Waker's Pearl
by neverkarma
Summary: AU-Hinata is a Waker's Pearl, a genie who used to serve the ancient gods of light and dark-the two Wakers.But she was forced to sleep in a pearl for 5000years due to illicit circumstances.When she wakes up, she saves the life of the reincarnated teenage version of the very man who locked her in the pearl -Sasuke Uchiha.(slow burn)
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of these characters.

* * *

"Sasuke..."

Her eyes were as translucent and glassy as shards of pale lavender glass that surrounded her in the sunflower field.

The sun was setting, casting a sharp beam of light that silhouetted her ghostly pale features and Sasuke's face that expressed bewilderment and awe.

It all happened in a flash. The discovery he made...of what was always rumored to be a lore, a midwives' tale...in the field of sunflowers he stumbled upon at dusk.

The Waker's Pearl-the rumored greatest wonder of the world-as the legend said, the pearl housed a powerful spirit, a genie as some called it, who will eternally serve the mortal who discovers her.

Many overqualified, daring warriors, kings, and dragon lords searched the nook and cranny of the earth for the Waker's Pearl, but failed-never knowing that they will be beaten by a Leaf Village child.

Sasuke didn't even mean to find the powerful treasure. He just happened to stumble on it after a day of frustrating training and then saw this glowing thing amid the sunflower field atop of the mountain. When he approached, he saw a round pale purple marble the size of a yuzu fruit, but what caught his breath was the beautiful figurine of a woman with long dark hair, seeming to be asleep in the marble. In her arms was a long sheathed sword.

Then he felt he saw lightning flitting fast across his vision, and now he was in front of the woman, except she is full sized-taller than him by a head, staring at him with what seemed to be pale, pupil-less eyes fringed with long dark lashes.

She looked at the younger boy with surprise, as if he was some unexpected visitor.

"Sasuke"

He blinked. And then his eyes glared in suspicion. Are his stupid friends playing some elaborate prank on him?

"...How do you know my name?"

She was older than him. She looked like she is twenty at most. He was fourteen. She wasn't one of his female peers who annoyed the hell out of him back at home.

She was obviously a lady of high rank-her fine, smooth hands spoke of a pampered lifestyle, and her complexion must have never felt the glare of the sun. And the long sword in her hand, Sasuke thought, it looked expensive-more expensive than the treasured family heirlooms of the leaf village's elite.

For a second, he could have sworn that her inhumane pallor seemed to take a few notches up-paler and paler. For some reason, he felt a mysterious, sharp pang in his chest, but he couldn't tell why.

He didn't like the feeling. But for some unknown reason, he couldn't leave her either.

The sky was darkening fast, and he scowled, looking up at the crescent moon. It was not a good idea to be in the mountains in the dark.

"Ah...you really should go home."

He tried to soften his tone, but it still came out as somewhat insolent.

She just stared at him, but now with some calm as if she is studying him for the very first time.

"Wolves like to come out. And rogue ninjas. They like to traffick kids like me and rich looking girls like you."

He expected her to show fear and take haste to leave. But she stared at him, almost owlishly, like she was hearing his language for the first time.

Not being a very patient person in the first place, Sasuke sighed and turned around. He glanced back at the young woman, warning her with his onyx eyes that she should leave.

"I'm going to go ho-" But he froze. Her pearlescent eyes turned cold, even hostile.

And she rose at an incredible speed that Sasuke hasn't even seen from his village's jounins or anbu guards. He would have never expected a lady like her exhibiting such prowess.

Her long sword was unsheathed, and he saw the menacing glint of silver under the moon.

Reflexively, he ducked.

* * *

Hinata

That is what he decided to call her. After the sunflower field where she saved his life.

She saved his life from a band of rogue ninjas known for committing some of the most heinous crimes like child trafficking and illegal human experimentation. About five fell, and the rest of them ran away.

She followed him to his abandoned home, a moderately sized shack that was deemed fit for a orphan child by the village council.

What Hinata learned from her little master was that he nor the villagers knew where he came from. He was just randomly discovered as a baby by a ninja called Kakashi. He lived with him until he decided he wanted to move out and live his own life at the age of fourteen.

Sasuke watched Hinata move about in his kitchen-if you can call that cellar with a barely working stove a kitchen.

With amazement, he saw her blow fire into the stove, making the water bubble with her mere touch, and carry the sword that looks far too heavy for her frame. She did it with much grace as if these actions didn't take much effort.

"Who are you?"

She stopped and then turned, looking at him from the corner of her eyes.

"...what?" Sasuke asked, his eyebrows knitting close to each other in annoyance.

She had that unnerving habit of staring at him silently whenever he said something to her.

She then turned around, held a bowl and spilled its content of white rice and peas into the boiling water.

"I am..."

He looked at her, pretending to be as indifferent as possible.

She deadpanned, "someone you woke up."

He gave her a look that said "Seriously?" but she remained silent. She might be even quieter than he is-and that speaks a lot.

Now she was dicing onions, zucchini, and carrots with a knife on a cutting board.

He looked at her sword that was tied securely to the string of her apron that she cut from her long train of robe.

He pointed to the weapon with his finger. He was never the talkative type-but he can't help but ask her question after question.

"Is that thing yours?"

Slam-

Sasuke flinched-at the abrupt sound of a kitchen knife harshly set down on the board. He couldn't see her face because she still had her back turned to him.

"..This..."

She slowly turned toward him until she faced him completely. In contrast with what Sasuke expected, she looked deep in thought rather than angry or indignant. She seemed to be pondering her words carefully.

"This...is Kusanagi."

She spoke to him as if he was her student. She held the sword up and gazed down at it as if the sword had a life, a soul.

"Kusanagi belonged to a man I-" she paused, catching herself mid-sentence,

She continued, "someone I knew…five thousand years ago."

Crazy, she was crazy, Sasuke thought. It was a pity to see someone, old enough to be his teacher, to be demented. His thoughts ran like a hamster on a spinning wheel. Why did he let her in his house again? Oh yeah, he remembered sourly, because of the bag of fresh ingredients she mysteriously was able to purchase in the market by selling one of her rings.

She must have noticed his thoughts but she continued speaking anyway, turning back to the kitchen sink where she washed some tomatoes.

"He locked me in the pearl. I survived in it for five thousand years, breathing in the chakra he provided."

The silence afterwards was filled only with the sound of bubbling water forming droplets under the lid she placed over the pot.

By the time Sasuke finished his fourth bowl of rice, Hinata laid her chopsticks down on the table.

When he rose to help himself to another bowl of the gourmet, home-cooked meal, Hinata stopped him with her hand on his arm.

"It's not wise to train with a full stomach."

"Excuse me?" He looked down at her incredulously.

In a patient tone that he was learning to hate she said, "You'll learn to fight with kusanagi…starting right now."

"And…now you want to be my sensei, after playing mom" he spat out spitefully. Just who does she think she is? Marching in his home, playing babysitting.

She closed her eyes and emitted a soft sigh that gently rustled her strands of hair around her face.

She rose and took her dishes and didn't forget to take away his empty bowl as if he was a little baby. Mortified by her dismissive attitude, Sasuke glared at her—well, glared up at her because she was a head taller. He didn't trust her. Everything about her was suspicious—from her superhuman agility, her superb control of chakra and use of jutsus, and… her eerie good looks.

Soaking the dishes, she said as if she was giving him an ultimatum, "If you hit me even once…I will do whatever you say."

A look of surprise-then he soon felt rage. How dare she insult him? He is one of the most promising young ninjas the village had to offer. She didn't need to save him from those rogue ninjas. He could have handled it himself.

"You better not take that back," he said, making his warning loud and clear.

Having already washed the dishes, she wiped her hands with her apron and looked at him, and for the first moment, which made his breath hitch, she smiled.

Taken aback by her smile at first, Sasuke quickly wiped the look of surprise before stepping out.

He always thought girls were weird, but he bet on his Chidori that she has no precedent.

* * *

In a huge, dark cave, Naruto looked up-the droplets of stone hanging precariously from the arching ceiling. The blond boy shifted his view forward and saw a tall man with black hair radiating some dark, loathsome energy, holding a long sword charged with fuming black , this swarthy angel of death was the only source of light in this cold, dark, wet cavern. Naruto couldn't see the man's face clearly because he was a good distance away, but he can still feel, prickling his skin-the stranger's intent to kill.

He was going to die any second, but he just lied on the stone floor, bleeding profusely, and he never felt so helpless in his life. He squinted his eyes shut and ground his forehead to the unforgiving stone, praying that this nightmare would end...

Then he heard a voice, soft like a caress of an imagined mother's touch.

"My sovereign."

Naruto raised his head and saw a woman standing with her back towards him, blocking the stranger's way.

All he can see is her long, silky black hair flowing behind her slender back. Even though he can't remember seeing anyone with such hair, for some reason, some soft whiff of nostalgia just sent a strong punch to his gut.

"I just can't bear to see the death...of the love of my life."

As soon as her silvery voice fell on his ears, Naruto felt a strong sense of dread and stretched his arm out,

"Wait...!"

Her ears deaf to Naruto's desperate call, the woman continued imploring in that heartbreaking way that seared through his chest.

"Please forgive my cowardice."

A gasp and the sound of choking rang in the walls as she made a quick movement that embedded something sharp and lethal into her body-probably a kunai-and she fell-her dark hair descending like butterfly wings as her body lied limp on the ground.

"No...no!"

After tossing and turning on his mattress for a while, Naruto finally woke up on his own little shack.

Beads of perspiration fell from his tan face, as he panted-his blue eyes widened in shock as if he can still see the color red. The dreaded red blots that bloomed on her white robe.

* * *

Three fourteen year olds were striding in the middle of the busy, bustling market street of Konoha.

"Gosh, teme! I had this really weird dream last night!"

"Nobody cares about what dream you had, Naruto!" A pink haired girl could barely contain her annoyance at the blond boy in the orange training suit.

Naruto still went on about his weird dream about almost getting killed in the hands of a psychopath.

Sasuke, as usual, stuffed his hands in his pockets and scowled.

Civilians in rustic garbs passed by, bargaining with merchants and running errands, but the three weaved through the traffic like the promising young ninjas they were.

Not paying much mind to Naruto, Sasuke reminisced about his prior interaction with his unwanted female guest in the morning.

-Flashback-

 _While Sasuke was still working on his breakfast, Hinata emerged, wearing her new attire she must have acquired sometime before sunrise-a tight fitting, light purple tank top with a traditional styled collar and dark navy training pants that covered up to her knees. She wore lightly as it was still mid-summer in Konoha._

' _Where are you going?' he asked absent-mindedly as he chewed on the food-he was too sore and tired from last night's training that he no longer cared about things like 'pride,' as he uncharacteristically initiated the conversation._

 _'To the hokage.'_

' _For what?' he raised one eyebrow. His cheeks were round like a chipmunk's from eating the food._

 _'I'm going to ask him to make you my adoptee.'_

 _Psshhhwwww-_

 _She stopped still from walking right out of the door and glanced back, her delicate eyebrow rising in question._

 _After wiping the rice bits that just flew from his mouth with the back of his hand, Sasuke balked._

' _Ha! Good luck with that! The hokage will never let 'a nobody' adopt me You don't have anything to prove yourself!.'_

 _She bent down to put on her black sandals. 'Hmm, you think so?' She responded as if he just said that the weather might cool down a little._

 _Not caring if he looks completely apeshit frantic, he yelled at the calm woman._

 _'You just woke up from a 5000 year sleep, AND you didn't even have a name until yesterday!'_

 _Hearing this, she straightened her back and glanced at him, and he was surprised to see her usually thoughtful eyes gleam with mischief._

 _'What?' Sasuke asked, suddenly feeling at edge._

 _'So you do believe in what I said.'_

 _'...No!'_

 _'Make sure to put everything back in the fridge. It'll go bad if you don't.'_

 _And she quietly shut the door at his gaping, blushing face and left._

-End Flashback-

"Sasuke, are you okay?" the pink haired girl frowned in concern as he pinched between his eyebrows, a habit that comes out whenever he is intensely frustrated.

"Leave him alone, Sakura. It's not like he's never a moody bum!"

Ignoring the minor squabble going between Naruto and Sakura, Sasuke tried to keep a straight face as they walked in the direction to the forested training grounds at the periphery of the village.

They still needed to walk a good mile and a half to finally leave the populated area.

The civilians and ninjas they brushed pass were out eating street food like takoyaki, steamed pork buns, or salted cucumber bars, or purchasing daily commodities like cooking oil or soap.

"He breathed black demon fire, and he really wanted my ass," now Naruto went back to talking about his strange dream he didn't give a damn about.

"and I had nowhere to run because we're in a damn cave, but then-"

Naruto uncharacteristically fell silent, and it was that abrupt silence that caught Sasuke's attention. Sasuke looked at what Naruto was staring and he halted at his steps.

...Midnight black hair that held a blue sheen. But it was now cut. Before, her long hair almost touched her ankles and swept Sasuke's floors. Her hair was still long, but it looked more manageable and practical than the curtain-length hair.

She was talking to someone standing before a cart full of wigs, assortments of blond, ginger, chestnut, or jet black wigs that lined up like freshly caught hunt.

The wig merchant's beady eyes gleamed in excitement as he respectfully handed her a bunch of money with two hands and snatched the coiling shimmering black braids, lest she changed her mind about the price.

A several feet away, the three stared at her and the wig merchant.

Naruto couldn't take his eyes from the back of her head...He scratched the side of his head that had the leaf village plated head band. That back...it looked so familiar. Where did he see that again?

When the merchant tried to persuade her to sell the rest of her hair at double the price, Sasuke stomped toward their direction.

"Sasuke-!" Her eyes widened in surprise.

The merchant looked at the boy, "Oh! Sasuke! I just purchased this fine specimen from your sister!"

Oblivious to Sasuke's WTF face, the merchant twittered on-"I have never seen such hair- so fine and luminous! You are very lucky to be adopted by such cultured lady!"

"...Do you even know who she is?"

He quirked his eyebrow and stared hard at Sasuke, as if he was asking something ludicrous.

"Of course! Lady Hinata is most worthy of the townsmen's respect, and please correct me, my lady" he stole a sweet glance at the beauty, "she is now the official keeper of the Uchiha mansion!"

At this, Sakura's mouth dropped to the ground.

"The...the Uchiha mansion? THE Uchiha mansion?...I thought that place was practically abandoned for centuries! You can buy it?"

"If you came from such wealthy family, like lady Hinata, then yes!" the merchant answered, preparing to push his cart to somewhere that can attract more attention.

"But..." Sakura couldn't calm down her surprise. She turned to the mysterious lady with long hair, "But...who are you?"

The wig merchant looked at the young trio weirdly, because they were a bit too old to play "pretend."

"You are all native to Konoha! Don't be silly. I have no time for you, kids!"

And with that, he scurried off.

After staring at the merchant's vanishing form, Hinata turned to Sasuke and said, "I got both the adoption and property papers. We have somewhere to go."

"Hold on a minute, lady! I don't know who you are, but you're not taking my Sasuke-kun!"

Peering down at the seething girl for a moment, Hinata smiled-an unexpectedly warm smile,

"Oh, excuse me. I was rude." She placed her smooth hand over her chest and slightly bent her head and smiled.

"My name is Hinata. I am Sasuke's sister...from now on."

Her pearlescent eyes looked into Sakura's emerald ones, as if she was looking at a dear friend whom she hasn't seen in a really long time.

Sakura wasn't a bad girl at heart, so she couldn't resist but stare wide eyed. She was beautiful-not just because of how she looked, but her voice, her manners-they all added to her unique beauty. And then she felt uncomfortable. It didn't sit well with her that Sasuke will live with such a grown-up, admittedly attractive woman.

As if she noticed Sakura's apprehension, Hinata smiled,

"Please come to the Uchiha mansion whenever you want. You're always welcomed. You are Sasuke's friend."

At this, Sakura's face perked up and her emerald eyes shone brightly, "Really?"

Hinata nodded, and then she felt someone approach so she looked to the side.

Her eyes widened and if Sasuke wasn't close to her, he would've missed the quick sound of sucking in air that she made as she saw Naruto.

Naruto scratched the back of his head and looked sideways, standing awkwardly in front of the woman who was taller than all of them by a head.

"Uh, hi...Umm, I'm Naruto."


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters. I thank Masashi Kishimoto for his life-long work. I am just a fan writing a fanfic, that's all.

* * *

In a forest within the Konoha walls were a group of teenagers, who seemed too old to be academy students but too young to be full fledging genin ninjas.

They flew over boughs, as if their light, scrawny bodies were being catapulted by some unknown force into the air, barely hitting into the huge trees. But their faces were calm as if this was the most natural way to commute.

The group consisted of a grumpy Sasuke, an energetic Naruto, a hopeful Sakura, a hungry Chouji, and a fired up Kiba with his puppy Akamaru who was sniffing around the grass.

The young ninjas were doing a special favor for the sweet lady who adopted Sasuke as her brother: bring fresh edible greens and spring water from the woods to help her make shabu shabu hot pot for the big dinner party she is preparing to welcome 'Sasuke's friends.'

"I would love to invite all of you for dinner, but I am afraid that we're out of greens."

Her lavender tinted pale eyes were downcast, and she seemed sincerely sad. Sakura and Naruto's faces fell in disappointment, but Sasuke yelled hurray in his heart.

"Umm, (crunch, crunch), well, there are plenty of edible grass in the forest."

However, the tables turned due to the sudden appearance of a young ninja called Chouji, who was bunching on a bag of chips. He just happened to see a group of genins who knew back from his academy years surrounding a mystery lady, and he also just heard the word, "dinner." Not just dinner. Free dinner.

Hinata's eyes lit up but a realization hit her and she had to make a sweet apologetic smile, "Oh, but I don't think there will be enough time to pick greens and make the hot pot at the same time. I'm sorry, but can we do it next time? I will be better prepared."

Sasuke grumbled lowly, "There will be no next time."

"Shut it, teme! Why are you having such an attitude toward your sister?"

"She is not my sister," Sasuke emphasized each word under gritted teeth.

"Uh, Miss...Sasuke's step sister?" Naruto ignored Sasuke (and that itself was a profoundly shocking moment to witness) and looked up at Hinata.

"Both of you can call me Hinata." She smiled down at both Naruto and Sakura. Sasuke's face became stiff as he saw his suspicious fake sister getting on their good side at the speed of a flying kunai.

If only they knew that she is more like a kidnapper who barged into his peaceful life and claimed him like some mission scroll! This whole angelic sister role she was pulling on is an elaborate facade, a deception, but Naruto and Sakura were like fish racing toward the bait.

"Oh, yeah..Umm, Hinata, if you want, we can pick whatever you need from the woods for you." Who knew that Naruto couldn't hide his shyness so well. Well, there wasn't an occasion to make this brazen kid shy, ever.

"Are you sure? But I can't let you work for me. That would be improper!" She waved her hand as if that was unthinkable: asking her guests, no matter how young they were, to do housework!

"But we know the Konoha woods really well, and it'll save time for both of us," Sakura smiled, siding with Naruto for the first time in her life. Dinner at Sasuke's home! She's already planning what to wear to impress him.

"Then if you insist... I'll go to the butcher right now! Please take your time!"

And that's how this scavenging hunt happened. And like the fabled tale of the Golden Goose, every genin ninja they happened to encounter in the woods tagged along.

Neji, Tenten, and Rock Lee were training together in the center of the woods, and Rock Lee, deeply moved by the story of the gracious lady who took the Konoha's famed lone wolf-orphan boy under her wings, insisted on coming to their aid.

Thinking that this will all be fun, Tenten dragged Neji along, even though he wanted to work harder on his training for the upcoming B level mission.

"Someone wants to adopt Sasuke? The Sasuke?" Shikamaru, who was dozing off under a huge oak tree, was intrigued, for the first time in a very long time. So he tagged along, curious to see who was blind enough to think that Sasuke would need an adult figure in his solitary, antisocial life.

"You...do not have any right to disturb them," Shino's warning was clear even though his glare was always concealed with dark round rimmed lens.

He didn't approve of the way his fellow genins were disturbing his friends' natural habitats. The crickets leaped and the bugs hummed in protest to their grabby hands.

But after hearing the behind story, Shino decided to guide these well meaning genins to places in the forest where they can pick vegetation and not disrupt the native bugs. And as the result, he also became part of the team.

And this conversation went on between Sakura and a blond girl who looked about her age, at the aftermath of their excursion.

"Billboard brow! How dare you try to go to Sasuke kun's house by yourself!"

"I'm not going by myself, Ino-pig! And there is no room for you!"

Sasuke's dark bangs sometimes got in the way of his vision, but that was not what bothered him. He kept a sour look as he searched the grounds and tree trunks, imagining the branches to be the face of Miss. Child Kidnapper.

Then something caught his eye as he stopped in his tracks. He peered closely at a certain plant that grew in the shadows of several ginko trees-a cluster of vines that hold small red berries that gathered together like grapes. As he approached this woody vine, he saw a small plot of similar shaped plants growing nearby.

And even though he didn't want to, Sasuke remembered the night in the Konoha main street when Hinata followed him all the way to his shack.

 _Sasuke allowed his mysterious savior to follow him to his home as they skirted through the market stalls at night._

 _She was holding a bag of vegetables, two pounds of pork, some rice, and oil that she just got from several merchants who didn't close their business yet._

 _Her long hair, antique white robe, and strange eyes turned heads, so Sasuke kept his distance, at least six feet away._

 _Then suddenly, he cannot feel her presence closely anymore, so he glanced back._

 _She was standing still in front of a cart that was covered with a huge banner, titled "Medicinal Herbs and Tea." There were tiny boxes made of birchwood that contained dry bits of herbs and tea leaves, all titled and priced differently._

 _Her pale eyes were glued to a certain box that held what looked like dried red raisins. Sasuke's extraordinary vision told him that the label attached to the box said "Omija berries/Five Flavor Berries/Great as Tea for Relaxation and Calming effect." His excellent vision also told him that the tea was way too expensive, and she had to reluctantly give up buying it._

 _Before she can see him watching her, he quickly turned away and walked, his hands buried deep in his trouser pockets._

"Tsk!" He shoved his hands into his pockets in an irritation and turned his back.

It's not like he even asked her to buy ingredients and cook for him. It's not his fault that she didn't get to buy that stupid tea.

He faced the vine again and lifted his right hand to violently crush the berries into pulp...but stopped.

He groaned aloud as he massaged the temple of his head, wondering what he was waiting for.

He can just move past them, as if they were no better than weeds, and he tried to, several times at least, but his feet kept carrying him in front of the cursed vines.

"Hey, teme!'

Sasuke quickly detracted his hand from the berries as if he was caught stealing a jar of cookies and saw Naruto and the rest calling him from the opening of the forest.

"We got everything Hinata asked for! Let's go!"

And with that Naruto and the rest turned to the exit of the forest, except Sakura and Ino.

"Sasuke kun, hurry! I'm waiting for you!"

"No, Sasuke Kun, I am waiting for you! Not Ino-pig!"

Sasuke's mouth became a thin line as he stood rooted in front of the wood vines.

He made a frustrated sound "Tsk!" with the end of his tongue and quickly grabbed a fistful of berries and shoved them into his pockets, uncaring about the red juice stains. And he followed.

When they arrived in front of the Uchiha mansion, Naruto was the one to open the massive gates. There wasn't a lock anyways as Hinata was mysteriously able to break down all the traps and complex sealsthat barricaded the mansion.

That was the number one requirement for anyone who ventured to buy the property rights to the Uchiha mansion. As well as not getting killed in the process of opening the place.

The village made it seem that the mansion was simply too expensive to purchase, but the higher up ninjas all knew that it was the inhumanely difficult task of breaking down the seals that warded people away.

Sasuke was the last one to come in the courtyard of the notorious Uchiha house that was known to be empty for centuries, possibly a millennium.

"Ah, Kakashi sensei!"

Sasuke raised his gaze to the direction of Naruto's voice and stiffened noticeably, his dark eyes widening a bit. It was good that he had control over his mouth because it almost parted a bit.

There was Kakashi sensei, leaning languidly over the mansion porch, chatting and even occasionally laughing with Hinata, who was holding a broom and wearing an apron and a head cloth.

She must have been cleaning the mansion while waiting for her guests. And Kakashi must have introduced himself while she was sweeping the courtyard of cow webs and debris that accumulated over at least a few centuries.

She covered her mouth while she laughed once in a while at his jokes and listened to his every word with polite concentration.

With the type of languid easiness and relaxed sexiness that is typical of men his age, Kakashi leaned toward her, close enough to whisper something in her ear. She blushed slightly at his sudden intimacy

but kept listening to his every word.

In every bystander's eyes, they looked like two young men and women

Ino exclaimed, "Wow, Is Kakashi sensei flirting with Miss. Hinata?"

"No way!" Kiba balked. He must have already developed high opinions of this unknown lady.

"Sasuke-kun, do Kakashi sensei and Miss. Hinata know each other?" Sakura turned to Sasuke who remained silent throughout, but her voice faltered as soon as she saw his face, "Sasuke kun..."

"Sasuke kun!"

Ino cried out his name and followed after him as he turned heels and left the courtyard and banged the tall gates shut behind him, and only then Hinata and Kakashi snapped their heads

toward their direction.

Hinata's eyes widened slightly and she noticeably froze as she stared at the space where Sasuke was standing. She looked surprised as if she didn't realize that the teenagers were standing right before them, gawking at them several yards away.

Sasuke didn't show up, so Hinata requested her guests, Naruto, Sakura, and the rest of the Leaf village genins to start their meal.

Everyone was sitting on cushions, surrounding a long rectangular table that held four hot pots of boiling water for the shabu shabu meat and ten plates of various vegetables.

While they enjoy the feast, Hinata was going to go out and look for him.

Right when she opened the sliding door of the dining room, someone showed up in front of her. Looking tired and worn out as if he rolled down the hill and got caught in thistles.

Mostly everyone, who was grabbing the cooked meat with their chopsticks and eating away, froze at the sight of Sasuke. They never saw him look so...beaten up. He was always the cold, lofty genius orphan who never showed a slightly humane side.

Hinata's voice quivered a bit but she kept a calm, composed face as she tried to be the disciplinarian.

"Where have you been?" She asked.

Sasuke didn't answer and instead walked right into the dining room. In his bleeding, dirty right hand, was a tiny live brown rabbit twitching its nose.

At this sight Hinata's eyes widened in shock and then narrowed in hurt and apprehension, "Sasuke, stop."

 _Classh!_

"Ahhh!" The girls screamed as Sasuke unceremoniously threw the rabbit on the first plate of vegetables he laid his eyes own. The rabbit fell hard on the pile of shitaki mushrooms, bean sprouts, basil leaves, and the scavenged wild vegetables and then started running around on the table in frenzy.

Thankfully, Neji was able to press the chakra points of the rabbit and stop the poor petrified creature from wreaking further havoc.

When everyone, including Hinata, looked at Sasuke, their eyes asking for an explanation, he shoved his hands into his pockets and smirked the infamous "Sasuke smirk."

But the smirk vanished and he spoke with a face that looked both proud and bored. "Since the menu is shabu shabu, I thought we should have fresh meat."

And with that Sasuke left the dining room as if that was the most casual thing to do. Only the sound of his foot climbing upstairs filled the silence.

That very same night, after the ruined dinner party, Hinata left.

* * *

Sasuke kept blinking on his new bed in his new room, unable to fall asleep although he was dead tired and in a particularly bad mood.

It would bring great relief to his body and mind if he can just get some sleep, but he just glared at the ceiling with his dark eyes, his hands intertwined on top of his stomach.

After the metaphorical middle finger he just showed to his conniving minor youth kidnapper, the unwelcoming feeling of guilt was steadily creeping into the corner of his mind.

How many lunchtimes did he disappear into the training grounds to not let the Academy know of his staggeringly below-average income?

How many nights did he put his starving, overtrained body to sleep?

Countless, so many that he became practiced and perfect in deceiving himself that it was better to have his pride intact than let people shoot pitying glances and point fingers at his poverty and loneliness.

'I am just having a hard time because I feel bad for the food that went to waste,' he told himself as he tossed and turned.

While second thoughts about what he has just done a few hours ago and his ego warred in his head, he saw a long shadow pass behind the crack of his bedroom door.

He bolted up and stealthed his way behind the door, his hand clutching a kunai close to his chest as he peered into the hallway.

It was the woman who used money and legal procedures to forcibly make him her adoptee. One of his dark, expressive eye that can be seen between the wall and door glared at her as she quietly moved down the hallway and went down the stairs, her precious Kusanagi in her hand.

If the hallway wasn't lit and his door was open by a creak, he wouldn't have noticed her being gone.

She was dressed in clothes that are fit for Konoha's summer night, when the heat of the day is replaced with the unexpected chill brought upon the nighttime dew and lurking wildlife.

Anyone can tell that she was not going outside to get some fresh air. Her agile and careful steps implied that she meant business.

Even though he couldn't see her face, Sasuke could feel the air of determination radiating from her body as she descended the stairs.

'Is she finally going to leave me alone?' he wondered.

If she leaves the village, then it means as her legal adoptee, he gets to keep whatever she left behind-including the Uchiha mansion.

He didn't care much about the grandiose mansion with its dark walls and dignified red engravings, but he was sure if he sold the house to some aristocrat, he can leave a life of comfort, a life where he doesn't have to worry about what to eat in the next few hours or dread communal mealtime.

But he can't shake the feeling that was nagging him as he slipped back under his covers and turned his back defiantly against the door.

It was only a matter of time that she gave up her rosy-hued delusion about taming him and runs away to evade him and the psychotic, dangerous tantrums that he throws with a straight face.

He isn't surprised at all, just surprised that it took her so long.

But where could she be going? She didn't pack any luggage. All she had is her sword. Sasuke doubted that she will sell her sword no matter how desperate she is. Then maybe she is not going somewhere drastically far?

Then an epiphany hit him like lightning, and his eyes opened wide in horrific realization.

Before his eyes, like a panoramic genjitsu, Hinata and Kakashi stood in front of the Main Gates' willow tree.

" _Oh, Kakashi sensei, I cannot bear to stay another day with that bratty orphan! How did you manage to take care of that monster till he was fourteen? You are a true man!"_

 _"Hinata, my place is yours." Lifting two fingers off from his forehead, Kakashi saluted her and turned, but not before leaning toward her blushing face and sparkling pale lavender eyes._

 _"Would you... like to see the latest edition of Itcha Itcha with me?"_

Sasuke abruptly stood up from his reclining position. Hell no, how could they be so obscene?

What started as a conjecture consolidated as a sure prediction fast in his mind.

He was not letting someone who self-proclaimed herself to be his sister be in an affair with Kakashi-that pervert who pokes his index finger into his students' buttholes in the middle of sparring and calls it a "joke."

Fake sister or not, she will make him a laughingstock in the village of Konoha-he can see the days of shame that will mar the self-image he inadvertently projected of himself throughout his years-someone who everyone loves to hate and can't help but acknowledge.

Although he didn't go out of his way to be on everyone's bad side, he liked the kind of disgruntled respect and privacy his reputation offered.

If there is something Sasuke cannot tolerate more than hunger or white-eyed kidnappers who whisk away orphans, it was social humiliation.

As soon as he got his damn priorities straight, he opened the lattice of his bedroom and leaped from the window.

* * *

In the dark of the night, with only the crickets' song being her company, Hinata trailed up the narrow dirt path that curved around the hill where Sasuke raised her up from her 5000 year old shell.

The remnants of the purple glass shell must still be there, in the sunflower field where all this began.

As she headed to the sunflowers, Kusanagi in her grip, she allowed the mountain wind to cool her cheeks and play with her hair.

But even the night air that smelled of sage and wild balsam fir failed to soothe her anxious thoughts as she replayed her interaction with Kakashi earlier that day in her head.

 _She just finished cleaning up the kitchen and dining room and prepared the rooms she chose for Sasuke and herself._

 _Now it was time to clean the main courtyard._

 _She tightened the knot of her head cloth and picked up the broom and started sweeping the floor._

 _After sweeping most of the debris off and pushing fallen leaves and branches into a huge duffel bag, she decided to take a little break on the porch of the main building._

 _She looked up at the sky as she leaned back and smiled, "Now I just have to wait,"_

 _"Impressive,"_

 _She turned her back and kept a defensive stance as her eyes took in the sight of a masked man with grey spiked hair, wearing a dark olive green vest that signaled his status in Konoha. He was crouching with his head leaning on his hand and his elbows on his knees, looking at her._

 _She recognized him-he was one of the ninjas who stood by the side of the Hokage when she proved that she has the freedom and right to own the Uchiha mansion. The quiet one, unlike the loud, dramatic ninja with a fruit bowl hair cut and the other female ninja with long wavy dark hair._

 _When she relaxed her stance and asked him with her eyes, his one eye that was looking at her crinkled adorably._

 _"I'm sorry if I startled you. I am just amazed that someone can have the energy to clean up this whole place after breaking down the seals that baffled even the kages..."_

 _Instead of blushing and thanking him for his compliments, she continued to stare at him, looking slightly afraid but also ready to be in charge if he does anything questionable._

 _"Does the hokage have a message for me?" she finally asked, trying to keep her voice calm in front of this man who managed to sneak in the Uchiha mansion without being detected._

 _Kakashi expressed his slight surprise with a "Hm?" and smiled good-naturedly,_

 _"No, but I did want to see the face of Sasuke's new protector."_

 _She cannot help but be noticeably tensed at the mention of the orphan boy's name._

 _"As someone who took care of him when he was little..I wanted to see someone who decided to take on that job."_

 _In response to his explanation, her tense, stressed expression changed as her eyes widened and a spread of red surfaced on her cheeks._

 _"Please excuse me!" She then laughed nervously, covering her mouth demurely, "I should have known better. To treat someone who cares for Sasuke with such inhospitality. Would you like some tea or..."_

 _Kakashi interrupted her, stalling her movement to run to the kitchen,_

 _"I came here to gauge your real motives for adopting Sasuke, miss Hinata."_

 _As Kakashi disclosed his reason for intruding, Hinata stopped and faced him,but she didn't look as tense as before._

 _He continued, "Konoha has been abuzz with rumors of this 'benefactor' who won the peoples' hearts easily-too easily in my opinion." His eye glinted._

 _Hinata idly swept her broom here and there, "Any village would welcome the sudden presence of a single woman...Especially if she is wealthy," she said nonchalantly. She will rather look like a spoilt daughter of some rich daimyo than let him know that she came from the Waker's Pearl._

 _Kakashi nodded, hiding his surprise at the change in her attitude, "Yes, money talks, you are absolutely right. But I also noticed..."_

 _She stopped sweeping and looked at him from the corner of her eye._

 _'He knows...of my use of genjitsu on the Konohans,' she noticed.'To think that a shinobi capable of detecting the Waker's chakra was near Sasuke. I was careless,' she chastised herself, but she will blame herself later. Now she has to play her cards right._

 _Underneath her apron was kusanagi. She can hear it hissing in malice toward Kakashi, but she just smoothed down her apron in an attempt to comfort it._

 _Noticing that she was holding her breath, Kakashi smiled and assumed a friendlier tone,_

 _"I do not mean any harm, so do relax. I thought at first that maybe you're a spy, but no, you are far too unskilled in concealing your emotions. But do understand. As Sasuke's prior caregiver, I can't help being sensitive. Please forgive me, if I came out as intrusive and rude."_

 _Pearl white eyes clashed with a dark, sooty eye, and they understood each other. They reached a mutual understanding of each other's power, sizing each other up._

 _He can beat her...if she didn't have the power of kusanagi and the 5000 year worth of chakra absorbed in her body._

 _She was strong, but the kind of power that strikes fear into shinobis belongs to someone else...Is it a spirit that resides in her or did she suck someone's chakra away like a viper? Kakashi couldn't decide._

 _"You don't trust me," Hinata calmly iterated, "But I do appreciate your openness and skepticism." Her lips drew a demure smile that didn't reach her cold pearl white eyes._

 _Noticing how she was also trying to gauge his intentions, he closed his eyes and folded his arms and leaned on one of the pillars._

 _"I am not just being a dry skeptic. When I saw you open the seals to the mansion, the power you wielded didn't seem your own. It was dark, brutal...inhuman,"_

 _Her delicate eye brows knitted against each other for a moment, but she kept listening, her face showing that she was curious and interested in the direction he was going._

 _Then she realized; if he was an enemy targeting Sasuke, he wouldn't raise her ire like this. It will only make her be more defensive._

 _He was chastising her for attracting unwanted attention with the duplicity of her power; the body that serves as the vessel might be pure, but the chakra is tainted and destructive, her moves are fluid and controlled but the occasional display of strength was like a cornered beast that pulls in those who gloat for power like a magnet._

 _Finally understanding Kakashi's motives, she relaxed a bit. Although he was brusque and perhaps too direct for her taste, his intentions were good._

 _She sighed, angry at herself for her bias that the Hidden Leaf village wouldn't have at least one highly achieving warrior who notices the contradictory nature of her powers._

 _"I see, sensei...I was careless. I will be more...discriminate when I use the powers within me."_

 _She bowed her head deferentially. After all, she does owe him for teaching her a very important lesson._

 _But she sucked in a quick breath, as he bridged the distance between them and whispered in her ear._

 _The warm breath coming out of his mask tickled her ear gently, and his voice was low and seductive._

 _"I will try to erase all traces as much as possible, if I were you. At night."_

 _'The pieces of the Waker's Pearl,' she gasped, 'Oh, I'm an idiot. Leaving traces like that.'_

 _And it was then Hinata and Kakashi heard the sounds of slamming gates and Ino calling Sasuke desperately._

"My sovereign," Hinata whispered.

The wind blew over the short sunflowers that swayed in her direction. The sound of the wind felt like mourning cries, but Hinata's face was tranquil. She placed her hands over the glass shards of the shell where she was kept asleep for 5000 years.

She touched the sharp edge of the glass-the pearl that kept her warm and safe for 5000 years now had to be effaced from the surface of the earth, forever.

"My sovereign, I promise this will be the last," she shut her eyes as in pain, Amaterasu, black flames engulfed the broken glass,

Watching the tiny bouquet of black fire envelop the crystalline pieces, she stood for a moment lost in thought...memories that she can no longer return to.

 _A little child with pearl white eyes and short bowl hair cut was crying, her body marked with scars and bruises._

 _Standing before her was a tall man who looked down at her with sooty coal eyes._

 _"If you are so against the task of taking lives..."_

 _A tall man with black hair said in a voice that was solemn but not necessarily harsh and cruel as she suspected._

 _"Save one life after taking another."_

 _At his words, her eyes widened, and she looked up at his face. In her hands, was a sunflower that was rooted up by one of her competing peers who disparaged her for wasting time on gardening while she should have perfected her skill of killing._

 _He was quiet, but then h_ e _said what was unexpected of the cruel, evil Destroyer, the Second Waker,_

 _"It wasn't your choice to be the instrument of slaughter."_

 _At this, the little girl bursted in tears. He understood. Nobody human understood her pain in being the harbinger to death, but this being, who was deemed bloodthirsty, demonic, unforgiving, and relentless understood her pain. He understood her._

Now the dark haired maiden no longer planted sunflowers on her victims' tomb,

she brought catastrophe, in the form of dark fire, to the shell that encased her like a mother's womb,

and now and even then, she delivered death upon those that she would have rather loved.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Naruto and its characters belong to the revered Mishimoto sensei, not me.

* * *

As he smashed hard against a tree and landed on his bottom, the birds that were hiding in deep slumber in the foliage rustled and flew into the sky.

The sight of the birds shooting into the sky looked like dark arrowheads ejecting racuous screams of annoyance, while the boy merely grunted

and tried to brush himself up. But the pain of the collision against the hard oak and flying several yards in the air wasn't too easy on his entire body.

Also sparring with an overly empowered minor youth abductor for four hours made him as tired as he is.

The forsworn enemy was holding a sheathed sword in her right hand, and it seemed that it was her, the woman with flowing hair, who knocked out the breath of the boy who just interrupted the wild birds' sleep.

Hinata looked at him with eyes full of concern, a look that is always met with his hostile glare, and sighed, an act that earned his boundless hatred.

Averting her gaze from his glaring eyes, she began to wrap the hilt of the sword with a band that joined it to her belt,

"We should call it the night."

"It is not over!" Sasuke yelled and tried to stand on his legs that were pitiably shivering from the aftermath shock of the hit.

"You didn't have dinner, Sasuke," she tried to speak sense into him.

"We didn't do much" he retorted gruffly, shaking the dirt from his sleeves and assuming a battle stanse.

"It is almost two. We should go home."

"Unsheathe your sword," a deep scowl made into his face.

"You know I can't do that," this time her voice was firm.

"And why not?" The aggression in his voice tempered down a little, but he still glared daggers at her.

"Because you are not ready."

He punched an innocent oak tree and banished another crowd of birds from their nests,

"What do you mean I am not ready? You never even unsheathed it before me."

She would always push him to the very limit till his well above-average deposit of chakra and stamina was depleted, and he was barely able to do his daily routine tasks like waking up to go to Team 7.

She always knew right away if he ever bullshitted his way in the middle of sparring or training, and with her calm demeanor and firm voice telling him "Get up, Sasuke," made him use all the energy he didn't even know he had in him.

Literally, training with her felt like all the strength and moist is being sucked from the marrow of his bones, and his joints feel fragile and shaky during the day, and Sakura would ask him why he looks so pale and Naruto complain that he is drinking too much water from their Team 7 share.

So when Hinata said "enough," even though he never outwardly admitted it out of pride, he knew that she was right.

But there was this one thing that always left an indelible scratch on his ego. She never bared the silver body of kusanagi since the night in the sunflower field.

A year has passed and now he is fifteen, but when it seemed that whenever he felt he got a hang on their training, she would turn away and say it's over. Whenever that happened, it seemed as if the inanimate sword was mocking his juvenile skills and tactics in scorn, and he didn't like it.

Yeah, with that calm, saintly face, she wouldn't hesitate to treat him as a near equal, beat him senseless, and send him into the air with her chakra-charged palms and sheathed sword, but whenever he challenged, taunted, even somewhat cordially asked her to let him spar with kusanagi as itself, her answer was a definite, unmutable "no."

As she turned her back and started walking away, Sasuke followed her, "You never know how it'll turn out, you know," his voice softened in hopes to persuade her.

Usually, 9 out of 10, he can get his way through anything with that kind of voice, no longer gruff but sweetly hopeful, but she merely cast a sideways glance at him and turned back.

"Kusanagi is not any sword, Sasuke," her voice was soft, but there was a sense of authority, "It has character, a will of its own. It is also terribly violent when provoked,"

her white eyes had a faraway look, "just like its former master."

"What, is it gonna cut my finger?" Dropping the charming school boy's facade fast, he tucked his hands in his trouser's pockets and followed her down the forested path.

She stopped and her tight on kusanagi became a death grip,

"It can curse."

The fifteen year old scoffed, and the two were silent during their way to the Uchiha mansion, as always after training or having a shouting match, an admittedly one-sided shouting match.

A few days after that, Hinata was cooking acorn squash and gabocha pumpkin porridge and pot stickers for breakfast, but then she heard a harrowing scream from upstairs.

"Sasuke!" the ladle that was filled with the sticky gruel dropped to the floor with a _clang,_ and she flew up the stairs.

* * *

"Is this it?"

Sakura and Naruto glimpsed at each other after Kakashi asked this question.

"Naruto, where is Sasuke kun?" Sakura whispered, casting an accusing look at her oblivious teammate.

"I don't know! Wh-why are you asking ME, Sakura?"

"Because if I don't know, then maybe you should?"

"Enough," Kakashi cut in and with a serious voice he seldom used, he ordered "One of you, go to the Uchiha mansion. Find out what happened."

At this, Sakura raised her right hand in a speed of lightning, "I will go, Kakashi sensei!"

"Don't meander too much in Sasuke's house, Sakura," Kakashi cautioned her, "Just see if he is okay and come right back. You two have to complete this mission with or without Sasuke."

The girl pouted a bit but then smiled brightly, "Yes, sir!," and she promptly left the training grounds that were dabbled in red, orange, and gold of the maple leaves.

It was fall.

* * *

Turning not a few heads with her flashing green eyes and lithe body that reminds observers of a butterfly or a fluttering maple leaf, Sakura skipped all her way to the front door of the Uchiha mansion.

She knocked on the vast ancient door several times, but there wasn't any answer. She pressed her ear to the door, but there wasn't a sound of foot steps or any hint of a person inside.

"Strange..." she wondered aloud, "even if Sasuke won't answer the door, Hinata always would...Is nobody home?"

It took a year for Sakura to talk with Hinata in a first name basis, even though Hinata said that she's perfectly okay with not being called "miss" or "lady" all the time.

In a second, Sakura jumped over the mansion's tall gate and criss-crossed across the wide building, but there was no sign of Sasuke or Hinata.

She thoughtfully tapped on her round chin, "Maybe they are in the upper floor,"

and as soon as she looked around for a way to enter the house, she saw a tall maple tree that is close to the second floor window that was open. Probably to let in fresh air.

Soon, she was up on the tree, hopping on a sturdy, thick branch that allowed her to look into the window.

As soon as she slid between the opened lattice, her feet landed gently on the wooden floor without making as much sound as a creak.

She looked around. She was in a musty room that looked like a storage of ancient manuscripts that hold records of the forgotten family-the Uchihas. Usually, she would have been interested in these books, being one of the smartest student in Konoha and Tsunade's apprentice student, but right now her priority was on Sasuke.

She opened the door, but she was greeted by the unmistakable rank of burning flesh, and she covered her mouth and nose right away.

"What is this...?"

And even though she expected the worse, she was not ready to see the horrible sight unfolding before her in Sasuke's bedroom.

"Sasuke!"

She screamed his name and ran to the side of the boy whose entire body was writhing in pain, and his skin seemed to be coiled by searing black marks that reminded her of tattoos.

But tattoos or any kind of skin infection shouldn't cause this boy who braved through life's sore negligence and the most demonic ninjas to convulse with such agony, right?

He was lying on his bed, and every time a cold sweat drop contacted with the prominent black swirls of burnt skin, he bit his lip to contain his scream.

"What happened? Who did this to you?" Now Sakura cannot withhold her tears.

"Sakura!"

Sakura's head snapped to the direction of the familiar voice, and her usually warm emerald green eyes were filled with uninhibited rage, as she lunged like a lioness on Hinata who just entered the room.

"What have you done to Sasuke? What happened to him?"

"Sakura-"

Sakura's knuckles had already turned white as she held on her collar.

"He's been looking pale and worn out since he started living with you, but I tried to think it was not your fault! And now look at him!"

"Let her go, Sakura!" a booming, feminine voice caused Sakura to withhold her death grip and look wide eyed at the sight of the tall blond woman who had a body that is every porn artist's dream.

"Tsunade sama!"

"Hinata san is not at fault. It was the idiotic boy. He should have known better," Tsunade completed that with a tsk tsk.

"Tsunade sama, what happened to him?" Sakura cried out. Right now, all she can see is the suffering of the boy she loved.

Tsunade's face hardened, as she crouched by the side of the boy whose condition seemed worser by the second.

Hinata decided to answer for her, "He touched the blade of Kusanagi, and it caused his subterraneous chakra to flare out...till his is depleted and his body is turning into..."

"He is fighting a good battle to not be that demon sword's host, but I don't know how long he'll last," Tsunade placed a few silver needles around Sasuke's chakra point that was located on his pulse point of his neck.

She continued while treating him, "He needs an influx of new chakra, and not just any chakra, but one that is identical by 99% to his. And that is impossible to find within such a short time. In a matter of time, he'll be a puppet or worse, his body will completely disintegrate under pressure."

As Tsunade said this in a tone of an adept physician, Sakura and Hinata's faces turned paler and paler.

Hinata's eyes suddenly hardened as she approached Tsunade with a voice full of resolution, "Tsunade sama, if that's the case, I believe Sasuke has a chance."

Tsunade sighed and shook her head, "Hinata san, I understand how you must feel, but there is really no way to-" but then the physician kunoichi stopped,

"Hinata!" Sakura stepped forward, but it was too late before Hinata made a quick slice across her right hand with a small dagger and red blood dripped down, looking like a coral reef encircling her palm.

Hinata's face flinched but she said, "Tsunade sama, my body is filled with chakra that is very similar to Sasuke's."

"How come-"

"Please don't ask anymore questions. Tell me what I should do," the bleeding woman implored.

"!"

Tsunade quickly assumed the position as a professional surgeon, "You have to try to pour your chakra into him as much as possible, by having skin to skin contact with his wounds."

As soon as Hinata approached his bedside, Tsunade warned her, "Don't think that you'll be immune to the pain, Hinata-san! It's a curse after all."

"I am well aware, Tsunade sama. But," she turned her gaze to the boy who was fighting to survive, "it's too late to give up now,"

"Hinata?" Sakura looked at her, 'What does she mean by not giving up? Sasuke...'

As soon as her bleeding right hand gripped Sasuke's left hand that was marked with the hideous burning tattoo, Hinata nearly fainted on the spot from the excruciating pain.

'So this is what he is going through right now,' she thought, 'not only holding on his consciousness but fighting kusanagi, he is indeed the reborn version of...'

The pain made it difficult to know how much time passed, but she not only held on, she covered his with both hands. She rested her forehead against their joined hands as in prayer.

'Please...please hold on,' her lips seemed to mouth a whisper.

Everybody stilled their breath as time seemed to move at a distressingly slow place.

* * *

Sasuke felt as if a million hammers just pounded on his entire body, as he blinked his eyes open.

His bleary vision told him that he was lying on his own bed, surrounded by three female ninjas who were whispering amongst themselves, unaware that he was finally conscious.

"Why in the hell won't he wake up?" the unmistakably rambunctious voice belonged to the blond dobe. Why was he here? What is happening?

"Strange," Tsunade frowned as she crossed her arms, "It seems that we're left with only one approach. I really wanted to avoid this as much as possible, but we don't have much choice."

Everyone, including Kakashi who was leaning on the door still, became quiet. Naruto felt a lump in his throat so he gulped.

'I'm up' is what Sasuke wanted to say to break the silence, but hearing about Tsunade's "last ultimatum" was rather tempting.

What could be the ultimate way to cure a ninja of a curse consisting of chakra excess and drainage that even the legendary physician ninja was so cautious of?

Having someone get into his mind and fight the soul of Kusanagi for him? Someone like Kakashi or heck, even a certain overpowered kidnapper?

Summoning a healing beast from another portal?

Subjecting him to a powerful jutsu that would crumble even the most capable shinobi's resolve and spirit?

"A mouth to mouth resuscitation"

Sasuke almost opened his eyes wide, and if he did, he would have seen Sakura and Naruto's jaws drop to the bottom.

Tsunade then pointed her manicured index finger toward a long-haired woman who flinched in response to the sudden shift in attention.

"Hinata-san, you will need to perform mouth to mouth resuscitation and provide Sasuke the chakra."

"Tsunade sama!" Sakura protested, but was halted by the said physician ninja's outstretched hand.

"Sakura, as your instructor, I always taught you that the patient's well being must not be jeopardized by petty emotions. Are you going to let Sasuke die, or worst be host to Kusanagi all his life just because of your childish whims?"

"No, of course not!"

"Sakura," Hinata's gentle, soothing voice held the anxious girl's attention, "It's a resuscitation technique. Not a kiss. So please don't worry. To me, Sasuke is just a younger brother."

That admittedly made Sakura feel a lot better. There was something about Hinata that made people feel better. But she was still not so comfortable, "B-but!"

"Yeah, Sakura! If what Hinata is about to do to Sasuke counts as a kiss, then what about our first day back in the acade-"

In a flash of a second, Sasuke bolted upright from the bed and looked at everyone present in his room with the deadliest glare that he has yet to show to even his real-life battlefield opponents.

Just being subject to his homicidal glare made the room temperature plummet by a few degrees, and it already felt like early winter even though it was still mid-fall.

"Well, that does it," and an overly nonchalant Kakashi strutted out of the room, even though his own student just miraculously survived a three hour long life or death encounter with a diabolical spirit that infiltrated his body like a parasite through an inanimate object that is always carried by a pretty eighteen year old girl.

Hinata, visibly pale at the sight of Sasuke's menacing eyes, took a few steps back, and bolted out of the room, "Kakashi sensei, please let me walk you out,"

She almost tripped as she followed after Kakashi.

"Sasuke kun, you're alright!" Sakura with tears of relief ran up to Sasuke and embraced his neck.

Sasuke just ignored Sakura's wild hugs, Naruto's pout and jealous glare, and Tsunade's nagging and stared at the open bedroom door.

* * *

Steadying her beating heart, Hinata was taking a stroll in the nearby woods.

When she decided she was in a remote enough spot, she took a seat underneath a magnificent maple tree that looked like it was on scarlet flames.

As she placed her right hand on a rock as she steadied herself down on the ground,

"Ah!"

She winced in pain and looked down on her hand. The part of her hand where she touched Sasuke's scars had pink burnt marks.

Looking down on her palm, she thought, "I guess I have to miss training today,"

She also felt a severe depletion of her own chakra, not the Waker's. She must have accidentally gave Sasuke a great amount of her own during the excruciatingly painful treatment.

Then she heard a sound of sobbing behind the bushes around her.

Moved by such a heart-breaking sound, Hinata stood up on unsteady legs, because she couldn't activate her Byakugan in her current state.

"A...girl?"

A girl who looked about ten years old with long straight brown hair was covering her eyes, crying in the middle of the woods.

Hinata approached her,

"Hi, little one? Are you lost?"

The girl lifted her face, and Hinata's pearlescent eyes widened in surprise,

"A...Hyuuga" Memories older than five thousand years started to resurface, but Hinata quickly shook her head

and gave the girl a kind smile, "Can I help you?"

The girl looked up at her with sad eyes that almost turned pink due excessively crying, "I...I want to go home."

At that moment, Hinata saw an overlapping image of a little girl with the same white eyes but with short midnight blue hair, crying

I...I want to go home.

Hinata shook her head as to banish the painful memories and smiled down warmly at the girl,

"I think I know where I can take you. Follow me,"

As the girl with very similar eyes to Neji, but more tender and sorrowful, hesitated, Hinata smiled and started walking in the direction to the village.

"If I do anything suspicious, just run away okay?" She hoped to reassure the frightened girl.

"O...okay,"

As they walked pass the colorfully dyed maple trees, Hinata decided to make small conversation.

"What is your name, sweetheart?"

Unbeknownst to Hinata who was just happy to help a lost child find her way back to her family, the girl with straight brown hair

stared at her with a stony glare.

"Hanabi. My name is Hyuuga Hanabi."

"Hanabi, such a pretty name!"

Hanabi smirked and an ominous shadow fell on her features, as she followed Hinata,

"Thank you."

* * *

As they stopped in front of the main gates of the austere building compound, Hinata looked up at the clan name, elegantly painted beneath the traditional tile roof, "Hyuuga."

Averting her gaze to the young girl, Hanabi standing next to her, she said, "This is your home right? Then I'll be on my way,"

Right when Hinata tried to turn away, Hanabi detained her with a surprisingly strong grip on her arm,

"But I haven't even properly thanked you yet! Please come in for tea," her innocent, young face wore a cold, triumphant smile

"!"

And as soon as Hinata snapped back her arm and turned around to leave, she saw six tall white-eyed Hyuuga family members surrounding her, aiming their chakra flared palms toward her neck.

One of the six, a particular tall and imposing man who looked as if he was in his forties stepped forward. He had a regal forehead and long straight brown hair, and he wore a minimalistic but traditional grey yukata.

His cold, authoritative white eyes met Hinata's calm, lavender-tinted ones.

"Hinata-san, we apologize for our rudeness. My name is Hyuuga Hiashi. I am the head of the Hyuuga clan."

Despite his cordial apology, nobody withdrew their blue chakra flared hands from Hinata's throat.

The tall, regal head of the Hyuugas looked down at Hinata who didn't even bat an eye,

"Please do come in. The elders are most...eager to meet you."


	4. Chapter 4

"Hinata-san, we've asked for your visit to the Hyuuga compound, but you've refused for a year. What is the reason for this?"

"Hinata-san, we called for your presence because we have some urgent questions regarding you and the state of our clan."

"Hinata-san, what is your purpose of coming to Konoha?"

"Is it true that you stole a Hyuuga's byakugan? That's why you have our eyes?"

"Why did you buy the Uchiha mansion?"

As soon as she sat in the center of the wide, elegantly styled room that

served as a conference for the elite family for many years, the counsel of Hyuuga elders bombarded her with questions.

Angering the elders further with her silence, she surveyed the room.

The room was traditionally designed so that guests can kneel on the bamboo mat covered floor,

unlike the Uchiha mansion that was relatively modernized for its preference of chairs.

The room also had sliding windows made of warm cherry wood stills and opaque rice paper that provides some privacy.

"Silence!"

As soon as Hiashi's command fell like a roar on everyone's ears, the conference room became magically still.

After a brief sigh that expressed his frustration, Hiashi again opened his mouth.

"Hinata san, it's been a year since you resided in Konoha village."

Making direct eye contact with Hiashi, Hinata nodded, "Yes."

"Hinata san, you have been the most affable and well-behaved immigrant citizen Konoha had in many years."

Hinata listened, her pale pink lips set in maintaining her silence.

The elders decided to let their leader speak to this suspicious Byakugan wielder who mysteriously appeared in Konoha and who nobody in the family tree or the entire village has heard of.

"But," Hiashi coughed a little, "as the Hyuuga family who founded and thus own every right to the Byakugan, we are left but with little choice to interrogate you upon your possession of its abilities."

At this, an icy glaze covered the eyes of the Hyuuga elders, who were secretly jealous of Hinata's ability to not only use the Byakugan like a main member, but even better-as if to scorn their own ineptitude.

She has demonstrated the superiority of her Byakugan for the entire year as she evaded their carefully planned approaches

and disappeared right when they were so close to ambushing her.

Even the orphan boy she adopted was untouchable, so the Hyuuga elders were vying for a chance to get their hands on her.

But now she was in the middle of the lion's den.

"Hinata san," Hiashi continued, "are you in any way affiliated with our clan?"

Hinata stared back at Hiashi, her fair hands delicately placed on her lap. Despite the respectability of this posture, there was an unmistakable regal air to the woman

.

"It is a relation severed a long time ago, my lord," she answered simply, but none of the elders nor Hiashi seemed convinced or satisfied with her rather vague answer.

"Do you mean that you do not count yourself as a Hyuuga?"

"When I was young. When my father was still alive, but not anymore." she closed her eyes as if she was getting tired.

"But you once were," an elder, a white-eyed dame in a khaki colored kimono interjected,

After a pause, Hinata answered, "Yes." Her eyes were downcast, "a long time ago."

"Then you either defected from our family or was exiled as a disgrace!" another Hyuuga rose, and looked down at her with contempt,

"Sit down!" Hiashi ordered, so the said Hyuuga begrudgedly took his seat again,

"Hinata san," Hiashi's voice noticeably softened, perhaps a little embarrassed by the behavior of the most elite of his family tree,

"The bottom line is this. There is suspicion that you are a defected or exiled Hyuuga coming back to seek revenge."

Meanwhile, Neji and Hanabi were actually eavesdropping right outside the rice paper screen doors of the conference room.

They were competent shinobis of their own right, but due to their young age, weren't allowed to attend the family discussions.

At his uncle Hiashi's words, Neji started feeling an upcoming tension headache. If they even tried to figure out who Hinata was as a person, they wouldn't have such a bizarre speculation of "Hinata the Avenger."

Neji had his doubts about Hinata at first too, but seeing how she remains a living saint around the human incarnate Sink-hole Sasuke, he no longer saw her as a threat to his family or himself.

Even Hanabi started feeling bad for the woman that she tricked into the Hyuuga's trap, "She must really want to go home, huh Neji-ni?"

"Shh," Neji hushed Hanabi and they continued listening to what's going on in the room.

"Hinata san, " with an air of finality, Hiashi faced her, "Do you intend to act as a Hyuuga imposter and seize power over all Hyuugas?"

There was a baiting silence after he decided to cut right to the chase.

Raising her white eyes that had violet shadows, Hinata looked squarely at the man who looked old enough to be her father.

"I," she finally opened her mouth, "have no interest in taking over a clan that uses children to achieve its means,"

At this, the entire counsel of the Hyuuga elders rose in indignation, with fire in their silver-white eyes.

"How dare you speak of us as if you're above us!"

"Hiashi sama, do you intend to let this woman get away with insulting not just us, but the entire clan?"

Hanabi flinched. By "used children," Hinata was talking about her.

It is true that she wanted her father's approval, but it doesn't mean that she was used, right?

And was this woman, whom she deliberately lied to in order to entrap her, defending her? Why?

Hanabi stole a glance at Neji, and his eyes expressed deep apprehension for the cornered woman,

'Hinata-sama, what are you doing?'

But Hiashi remained stoic and calm, his eyes remaining pensive as he analyzed Hinata carefully,

"Are you going to remain silent about your identity, Hinata san?"

"My byakguan belongs to me, Hiashi sama," she bowed her head deferentially as she rose to get up, "but I am not a Hyuuga,"

However, as she stood up, Hiashi stood up as well. And the rest of the people in the room.

"Then we, as guardians of the Byakugan and the Hyuuga solidarity, are left with little choice."

Two tall white-eyed men approached her, as Hiashi solemnly said, "We will seal your byakugan and safeguard our clan's honor and safety,"

But as soon as the two Hyuugas reached their hand to grab her, she evaded their touch in a fluid movement that nobody in the Hyuuga clan has ever seen.

Her movement was like a mountain stream that ran pass sharp, jutting rocks of the bank.

She passed by other Hyuugas who lunged on her and sealed their chakra points

like a river enveloping flying rocks in its watery embrace-gentle but strong enough to dull their harsh edges.

Even the ever stoic Hiashi couldn't hide his amazement at such fluid movements.

 _Basshhh-_

Neji held Hanabi up and barely dodged the flying screen panel door as Hinata blew a Hyuuga elder across the room into outside the main courtyard.

Now Neji and Hanabi got the best view of what was going on in the conference room.

"Neji-ni," Hanabi shivered, "I...I tried to fight...that?"

The Hyuugas learned their battle stances and movements through their muscles' reflex trained by rote memory.

So there was always tension and brute alertness in the Hyuuga's movements, even a prodigy like Neji's still had the sense of the movements being 'forced.'

No matter how much he trained, his movements could never belong to the league of artistry Hinata mastered so wonderfully.

Hinata, now her body made soundless music-her lethal steps were so beautiful that it truly merited the title, the "Gentle Fist."

Neji couldn't help but observe aloud, with no audience in mind in particular,

"She is using as least chakra as possible, waiting to be near each person so she can reserve her limited chakra to seal their points,"

"But didn't you say before that she has a lot, I mean, a LOT of chakra, nii-san? I don't see much." Hanabi frowned as she activated her byakugan.

"That's what's strange," Neji couldn't take his eyes off her as she flew a fist that smoked blue rings of chakra against another Hyuuga elder, "There's something...different about Hinata sama today."

Then suddenly

"!"

The sharp, excruciating bolt of pain that tightened the circumfarance of his head,

"Neji-ni!"

Hanabi cried out as Neji fell on the ground, his fists balling into his head,

At the sound of Hanabi's desperate cry, Hinata looked at the spot where the door previously was and there Neji was, grabbing his own head and trembling as if overtaken by the worst seizures.

Hinata's eyes widened and then snapped back in cold anger toward Hiashi,

"Hinata san, if you do not cooperate with our plans, then we shall activate our sub-clan member's seal."

"Father, please don't do this," Hanabi pleaded, this time with genuine tears, as she laid her small hands on Neji's shoulders

"Hinata san, we've observed you for a year and saw how much you care about Sasuke's friends. You don't want this boy's blood be on your hands, do you?" one of the Hyuugas said.

"Release. him." Hinata warned coldly.

When she was defending herself from the Hyuugas a minute ago, she wasn't mad.

She felt merely detached and even some pity for these blind clansmen who worshipped their toxic ideologies for more than 5000 years.

"I knew that you people will do anything, if it is for your clan. But to do this to a boy..." she couldn't complete her words because of the sheer rage building in.

"Surrender, Hinata-san," Hiashi ordered, "we entreat you for your full cooperation,"

"aah..." now Neji didn't have even the strength to scream in pain, it felt like the pain in his head was ripping off his vocal cord. The curse of the seal was numbing him from head to toe.

Hinata looked at Neji and Hanabi with pain in her eyes, and her arms that took on a battle stance, dropped.

"You bitch!"

"Ah!"

A tall muscular Hyuuga roughly slapped her, causing her to fall on the floor.

She lied on the ground, barely supporting herself with her left elbow, her black hair falling like a cascade over her face.

Without her Byakugan and chakra, she was just an ordinary eighteen year old girl who liked cooking and gardening.

Then the Hyuuga members all towered above her, shutting her chakra points rapidly to not risk any chance of her escaping.

"Ha...ha," Finally released from pain, Neji exhaled roughly to catch his breath.

Hiashi cast a cold glance down at his nephew and then looked at Hinata, whose limp, unconscious body was supported by two Hyuuga males.

They were going to take her to the special, secret "cellar" where they perform the rituals of sealing Byakugans.

Then soon the room became vacant, except for Hanabi who cried and shuddered in realization of what she has done to an innocent woman and Neji who tried to recover from the curse of the caged bird.

* * *

"What's wrong Sasuke?"

'Something does not feel right,' he thought as he turned slightly back, looking at the now distant walls of Konoha.

Sasuke insisted on participating in the mission scheduled for Team 7 that almost got canceled because of his injuries.

Seething out an angry, subdued "I'm fine," he grabbed his pack and left Konoha with Sakura and Naruto.

It would take a very close look to see the remnants of kusanagi's curse on his body-light pink burnt marks that can be

mistaken as a healthy flush of skin on his face and arms and legs.

"I am just relieved that you're okay, Sasuke kun! And it's been so long since we're going to a long-term mission! A travel to Suna! It's amazing!"

"Hn,"

Naruto stuck up his tongue at Sasuke, still pissed off that he refused to show any kind of gratitude for those who worried for him.

He was worried. Sakura was worried. Hokage Tsunade was worried. Kakashi...umm, maybe?

And especially, Hinata who earned the title, "living saint" from him and his village friends after she not only survived but somehow mysteriously seems to even enjoy(?) living with the cocky, undeserving teme.

Why in the hell, a woman so sweet, capable, gifted in all ways ( and even pretty in her own way if you look pass her pupil-less eyes) put up with someone like Sasuke is beyond Naruto.

Naruto's bright ceruleun blue eyes snapped in the direction of Sasuke with a look of flagrant disapproval.

"Someone is stalling, dragging everyone's process down, someone whose nickname rhymes with "yamete (means"no,"often used in "rape fantasy" porn vids),"

However, Sasuke didn't seem to hear his loud, sarcastic remarks as he kept throwing sharp glances behind his back.

Then the light shooting from his dark eyes left a trace in the air like a shimmering boomerang

as he leaped down from one of the trees and

Crasshh

"Ahh!"

The impact he caused by digging his right hand into a girl's throat caused her smaller body to create a little crater in the soil.

As she convulsively coughed, he glared down at her, his dark eyes boring into her frightened white orbs,

"What do you want? Why are you following us?"

"Name, Hyuuga Hanabi! (Cough cough), I followed you because...Neji ni sent me! (cough cough)"

Still, Sasuke didn't lift his grip on her throat,

"Gosh, teme! It's Neji's cousin! Let her go, for Christ's sake!"

Sometimes, his village best friend slash rival can be way too angsty and high-strung for his own good.

"It's about (cough, cough) Hinata-san!"

Hanabi instantly raised herself up as soon as Sasuke loosened up. His mouth was slightly open, "...What?"

Rubbing her released throat, Hanabi said, "The main branch leaders took her away! I don't know what they're trying to do, but you must hurry!"

"!"

At this Team 7's faces all went pale as they froze. Naruto tentatively looked at Sasuke's profile.

His eyes were covered by the shade of his dark hair, making his expression illegible but dark and sinister.

Naruto took a careful step forward and reached out both of his hands to placate the impending storm

"Hey teme, now just calm down..."

Wa-mp!

But before either Naruto or Sakura can intercede, he seized Hanabi's collar and nailed her to a nearby tree,

After a pause, he finally emitted a small breath he held in and murmured "...Where is she?"

"Sasuke kun..." Worried and slightly frightened, Sakura tried to lay her hand on his shoulder but flinched when she saw a rapid rise of his shoulders

Hanabi felt like her ears were going to go deaf,

 **"Where is she?!"**

* * *

Splaash-

A pair of hands threw a bucket of ice cold water that slapped Hinata's face to the other side.

Coughing, Hinata tried to open her eyes but failed, as her eyes were tightly bound by an iron mask.

The iron eye mask was light but it efficiently blocked her vision. To her, it was pitch dark.

Her chakra is good as gone for now, but even without her byakugan, she can sense the menacing presence of those around her.

The air felt by her bare skin was stagnant and very cool.

She thought, 'That must mean I am in a musty, walled building with no infiltration or window...And the sounds of machines around me...loud enough...I feel like they are right next to me. This space is not too big. Almost like a cellar.'

Then she can hear the faint shuffling of sandaled feet and the humming and beeping of medical machinery-whenever she heard a beep, she felt her eye mask vibrating slightly.

"!"

Her heart almost stopped at what this implied.

They are going to permanently blind her Byakugan-whether it is be by a current of electricity or a chemical injection...through the tubes connected to her mask.

She tried feeling for her limbs-hands, arms, legs-they were all intact as well as her joints, but any freedom to move her arms and legs were restricted by the chains that bound her to the wall.

When she tried moving her arms, she heard the sound of the rattling chains that sent chills down her spine.

"Hiashi sama ordered us to make this as quick and painless as possible. You must have made a good impression." a woman's voice sounded robotic and distant in this unsettling place.

Hinata tried to cry out, but she felt a latex gloved hand shove something that is the size of a chapstick roughly between her lips. It was a silencing mouthpiece.

"We'll compensate enough so that you won't miss your abilities...too much" and the sound of a door slowly closing echoed in the room.

Click-the door was locked. And Hinata was alone, writhing furiously against her restraints but to no avail.

When she thought nothing can get worse,

Tsuuuuuuuu- the sound of humming, similar to those side-effect noises caused by vintage music disc players, pierced her ears.

She can sense it.

The people turned everything on and left her to be subject to the Byakugan sealing device's sick mechanizations.

She hung her head low, and her black hair fell like silk by the side of her face.

What will come to her at the end of this waiting?

Electrical current that will zap her eyes out? Poison that will fog up and taint their brilliant ivory?

Only time can tell.

* * *

As Sasuke flew across the trees in a speed that kept Naruto and Sakura at bay,

Naruto yelled, "Hey Sasuke! Don't do anything stupid!" but his warning fell on deaf ears.

Sakura yelled on top of her lungs, "Sasuke, even you can't fight the entire Hyuuga household on your own! Please stop!"

As he flitted across each bough, leaving chakra-infused foot steps everywhere he left,

he cursed his inability to bridge the gap between him and the walls faster,

'Kidnapper...'

"Haa~m," one of the guards keeping post in the wall of Konoha yawned,

"Hey, Maru! Do you see that?" his partner nudged him,

"What?" annoyed at being ribbed, the guard lazily turned his half lidded eyes toward the outside

"!"

A boy wearing navy blue, flashed past between them, and they covered their eyes from the gust carrying blood red maple leaves.

"God, what was that?"

The guard looked at the disappearing back of the young trespasser, before he was affronted by a black sandaled foot.

Bam-

"Move, you buggers!"

"Ah!"

His partner wasn't so lucky either.

Punch-

"Ahh!"

"Eww, get away from me! Sasuke kun, slow down!"

* * *

Using his bent left leg and heel as a brake, he stopped in front of the towering entrance gates of the Hyuuga compound.

Surprised by the sight of a tornado halting itself outside the brick fences, a Hyuuga male stepped out

"What the-" Baaaammm!

The Hyuugas in the vicinity all ran toward the sound of the commotion and took a battle stance, but their ever emotionless faces said shit.

A raven haired boy with the Konoha headband, wearing dark navy clothes was standing on top of their precious monumental wooden gate door.

Considered to be at least several thousand years old, the door was pitifully smashed onto the gravelly courtyard.

The young intruder was number one, tall, dark, and handsome, and number two, seriously pissed at one of them or possibly all of them.

With his impudent, dirty black sandaled feet, he was stepping on the symbol of their thousand years' heritage.

Creak- the mutilated metal hinges of the once magnificent door made a plaintive squeak,

As soon as they heard the sound, the Hyuugas released a battle cry and ran towards Sasuke in blind rage over their violated honor.

"Ahhhhhh!"

Rather than looking scared as they expected, Sasuke smirked as if he was pleased that they were charging at him like a mass of white-

eyed mosquitoes.

But he doesn't have time for them.

As the stone tile cracked under his malevolent aura, he flitted pass each opponent as if their movements only propel him to move faster, like some unfair cause and effect reaction that defies the law of physics.

It was a move that Kidnapper has drilled in him for the entire year.

Now where was she? He worried his bottom lip as he looked sideways. He left a thin smoke of sand in his foot trails because he was running so fast without a sense of direction.

All the opponents who didn't get to detain him missed him by a hair's breadth, and for that, were terribly punished.

Crack- Baakkk-

Naruto's thick skull butted itself against the nose of one Hyuuga while he kicked another on the shin.

Another got her gut got upper punched by Sakura, who had an amazing amount of violence for a girl her size and feminine looks.

"Letting us do all the dirty work, teme? You'll pay for this!"

Ignoring Naruto's guttural cry, Sasuke raced inside what seems to be the main building that is missing a sliding door.

Behind the opaque white sliding doors, Naruto and Sakura can see a dark silhouette of a boy with spiked hair facing a group of burly men whose hands glowed with blue fire.

"How dare you-Ahhhakkk!" "Stop- kuuukkk!" "My name is Hyuuga Nego, and I'll sto-ehhheeek!"

With fierce dark eyes set on a bored face, Sasuke punched each Hyuuga into the air, leaving fresh, big holes on the building's intact screen doors.

'If Kidnapper saw me doing this, she'd nag me for not showing 'respect to the environment.''

Imagining her "disciplinarian face," he couldn't help but smirk.

After he was done vandalizing the conference room and Hyuugas' pride, he flew through the corridor of the main building and surveyed the other chambers.

Signs of conflict in only the big fancy room. The unnecessary care with which Kidnapper blown only one door. So like her.

He can't feel her chakra though.

"Uggh..."

He snapped his head toward one of the Hyuugas who were lying flat on the conference room.

"Ahhh!" Sasuke grabbed a fistful of the Hyuuga's hair up and asked,

"Eighteen year old girl, petite with indigo hair and Byakugan, where is she?"

"I...I don't know! I really don't-" Wammp! His patience waning before he can even finish his sentence, he slammed his face into the floor.

Sticking his thumb digit into the blood he drew from the main member, he drew an elaborate seal on the floor.

Then soon red light flashed, and he can see silver foot prints that weren't visible before the seal's activation.

Naruto and Sakura showed up behind him.

"Wow, teme, where did you learn that?"

The footprints were moving on their own, and it looked creepy, like invisible phantoms tap dancing.

"What did you just do, teme?"

"The seal is showing how the battle started!" Sakura couldn't contain her amazement.

The seal was demonstrating the chronological flow in which Hinata fought against the clan members, surrendered, and was dragged out.

Also something he learned from Kidnapper.

The haphazard silver foot prints then indicated that the fight ended right next to the missing screen door, and two Hyuugas were followed by the rest of the groups.

Whoosh

Sasuke ran after the footprints that left the main building and dashed toward the narrow alleyways of the wide compound.

Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke pursued the different directions in which the footprints scattered.

"Go there, Sakura!"

"Alright!"

"Naruto!"

"You don't need to yell, teme!"

The group of footsteps Sasuke followed went through a particularly labyrinthine path winding in the direction to the far end of the Eastern side of the compound.

Sweating, he cursed under his breath, not slowing down his pace.

"Why does this damn place have to be so big?" he muttered while following the disappearing footprints with all his might.

The farther the foot steps went, the less small houses and shrines he can see. Now he was in a middle of a gravelly courtyard made by burning forest trees that once occupied the space.

Then he stopped.

The footsteps went beneath the door of a small storage room that looked oddly run down and modern compared to rest of the buildings in the Hyuuga compound.

Bang-bang-bang-

"Hinata!"

No answer.

Then he smelled a wisp of ethanol and...something else, through the door. His stomach clenched.

Bashh-

The door went down, and his face reflected the harsh lighting of the machine monitors that shone in the cellar.

Even though her unique eyes were covered by the iron mask, he can still tell who she was.

Muttering all kinds of curses from his sculpted lips, he dashed to her side. She looked unconscious, her thin arms weighed down with chains, and her head hung over.

With his kunai, he sliced the tubes that hung on her eye mask like LED lighted spider webs.

The mask fell with a heavy clank on her floor, revealing closed eyelids with dark lashes and red marks of finger prints across her left cheek.

He unconsciously wrapped his hand around her left cheek and looked around the little torture chamber that held the ancient clan's dirty secrets.

The long tubes that once were attached to the eye mask were connected to some elaborate device that he has never seen before.

The spinning iron wheels churned out its evil magic in a digital, apathetic fashion.

He was tempted to burn that thing, but the Anbu needs to burn that thing first.

As he stuck the sharp tip into the key holes of the right metal clasp, her right arm fell to her side like a limp doll's.

Her head swayed a little by the sudden fall of her arm, but there was no sign of her waking up.

He froze. 'Is she already...no, no, shut up, don't think that,' Holding in his welling panic, he worked on the other arm.

And she fell into his arms that caught her just in time. She was a lot smaller than he thought. She always left an impression that she was taller than she was. Now she felt so little and...

'She's...wet?'

It was clear liquid-it might have been water, but something about its odor was off.

"Get out!" Naruto cried, his eyes glowing gold and teeth turning feral as he charged toward the doorless cellar.

'Smoke? Shit!'

As he snapped his direction toward the smell which was up the ceiling, he saw flames running down the chains that once bound Hinata.

In a minute, they were entrapped in a ring of fire.

Naruto yelled and raced toward the device, fisting an orb of blue fire around which air gathered like a cyclone.

Sasuke moved his lips quietly amid the thundering noise of the overheated, combusted devices and formed a blood red seal that surrounded both him and Hinata from the ensuing chaos.

!

Naruto blew the byakugan sealing machine out of the cellar's wall, and like a magnet, the machine drew all the fire away from them...and toward the main areas of the Hyuuga compound.

"Ahhhhh!"

It was Doomsday for the Hyuugas, especially the Main Branch, as they saw the chambers, suites, conference rooms, ceremonial halls all being swallowed up by the red hot fire.

Coming down from his high, Naruto withdrew the light coming from his body and ran to Sasuke and Hinata's side.

"Hinata chan! Hinata chan!"

Sasuke grabbed her shoulders and tried to shake her awake, but his heart got depressed as her head hung limp.

"Move!"

Sakura pushed Naruto to the side, and checked Hinata's pulse. She placed her ear to her chest, and both Naruto and Sasuke turned their heads away in sudden embarrassment.

Then Sakura inserted her index and thumb into Hinata's mouth, and pulled out what looked like a piece of plastic that was chewed on.

"She's drugged! Bastards, they silenced her with a mouthpiece made of solid anesthesiac!"

The mouthpiece shattered in her fist.

"Shit...watered down gasoline...the fire...They wanted to kill her?" Naruto balked.

"Probably to eliminate evidence," Sakura murmured, her worried green eyes looking down at Sasuke.

Sasuke didn't say anything, his hair covering his face that looked over the unconscious woman, more like a girl.

Then the three looked at the screaming people escaping their Hyuuga empire that was going down in flames.

* * *

Bam-bam-bamm

A wooden mallet held by a red manicured hands struck the sound block on the judge's pulpit viciously.

"Order!"

She didn't need to command twice.

The courtroom grew quiet as the blond hokage surveyed everyone with cold brown eyes.

"On charges of kidnapping and attempting to permanently blind and kill Hinata san, do the Hyuugas, plead guilty or not guilty?" Her voice thundered.

With a straight face, Hiashi, the leader of the Hyuugas and cheif defendant in the courtroom, said, "Not guilty, your honor."

"This is BULLSHIT!"

"Shut up, Naruto, or you shall be forced out from the court room!"

Tsunade yelled and then turned her sharp brown eyes onto

the group of Hyuugas who were sitting down with no remorse on their faces, but a sense of righteousness.

"Let the interrogation begin."


	5. Chapter 5

Bam-bam-bamm!

A wooden mallet held by a red manicured hand struck the sound block on the judge's pulpit viciously.

"Order!"

She didn't need to command twice.

The courtroom grew quiet as the blond hokage surveyed everyone with cold brown eyes.

On the far left were the jury, who were going to listen to both sides and determine by vote who they believe should have their way.

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura, who were sitting on the plaintiff desk, looked at the jury and recognized some people.

There were Gai sensei who was quiet for once in his life and Kurenai sensei with her jet black wavy hair and red eyes.

The rest of them were leaders of some of the noble clans of Konoha:

Shikaku, Shikamaru's father who leads Nara, known for his high intelligence,

Chouji's father who leads Akimichi, known for using their calories into chakra and great strength

the representative of Kohaku of Fire nation, Misaito, chosen because of Tsunade's judgment that she will be impartial to both sides

Asuma of the Sarutobi clan, who is also Kurenai sensei's boyfriend.

Lastly, there was the ambassador from Suna, the Village of Hidden Sand, who is also part of the Kazekage Clan where Gaara and Temari belong to.

So there were seven members of the jury. Their vote would decide the fate of the Hyuuga clan and Team 7.

Tsunade raised her voice, "With the help of my advisors, I have selected the jury based on how fair and unbiased they can be. That means that I can't add anyone who might have personal feelings for the plaintiffs nor the defendants."

She turned a sharp eye at Aburame Shino, Inuzaka Kiba, and Yamazaka Ino, who were sitting behind the plantiffs.

They all wanted to be part of the jury, but Tsunade refused, knowing about their crushes on either Sasuke or Hinata.

"Before we begin witness testimonies and cross examinations, we must clear out the 'perjury' clause,' Tsunade said, skimming over papers

Bamm!

Almost everyone flinched as Tsunade banged her fist against the pulpit, "It means that if any of you lie, I will personally sever your conniving tongue."

She cleared her throat and continued,

"Plaintiff, Team 7- Hatake Itachi, Haruno Sakura, Sasuke, Naruto. Do you swear to speak by the truth and only the truth? Answer with 'we do.'"

"We do," they answered.

"Defendant, Hyuuga Hiashi, do you swear to speak by the truth and only the truth?"

"I do," he answered with a stoic demeanor.

"The most important piece of this case, Hinata is not able to be in court, for she's hospitalized for her injuries."

At this, Naruto shot a fiery glare toward the defendant Hyuugas, and Sasuke dug his fingers almost painfully into his own lap without a word.

Sakura looked at her crush with worried eyes.

Hiashi and the representative members of the Main house looked decidedly nonchalant about the news.

Tsunade asked "Is there anything either you or the defendants want to clear out before we start the actual work?"

"My honor," Hiashi stood up, "it is against the Constitution of Konoha to have the hokage intervene in the familial matters of the four noble clans."

Tsunade frowned, "Your claim is that almost murdering Hinata san is a 'familial matter'?"

He remained undeterred, "Hinata san used to be the member of the Hyuugas. She did not confess as to when she left the clan, but she was. We merely dealt with her according to our tradition and protocols."

The courtroom started buzzing with shocked gasps and hurried whispers.

 _Bam!_

"Silence!" Tsunade yelled. She looked down at Hiashi from her pulpit, "So?"

"Therefore," Hiashi continued, "we ask you to appeal this decision to have a trial. It is unconstitutional to have the clan's personal matters be exposed to the public in court."

"How dare you!" Sasuke rose from his seat, but was quickly forced down by two Anbu guards who were standing behind them.

He struggled, but they have made sure to keep his strength and chakra in check with their special handcuffs.

"Hiashi," in a low voice, Tsunade spoke, "you know that if a Main member of the clan decides to take clan matters to court, the hokage must respect that decision, right?"

At this, Hiashi looked a bit taken aback, "Y-yes, of course. But nobody in the Main branch would..."

"Yes, father"

Hiashi's eyes widened in shock.

At the sound of the girl's voice, Tsunade cannot help but triumphantly smirk, "Hiashi, as hokage, I cannot refuse the petition for a trial from a Main member. Especially..."

As the first witness stepped forward and primly took her seat in front of the courtroom, she continued, "Especially if she happens to be the sole heiress to the clan."

"Hanabi..."

Hiashi looked at his only daughter in disbelief. As soon as they saw Hanabi, the Main branch members' face turned ashen pale, making their afraid eyes look ghastly and ghoulish.

Hanabi refused to look at her father and merely stared into space before her.

Tsunade's voice echoed in the court room. "Let the testimony begin."

* * *

After Hanabi answered the questions given by Team 7, it was time to answer Hyuuga's.

"So Hanabi san, you are saying that although Hinata had no interest in stealing the clan, they tried to not only blind her Byakugan, but also kill her?"

"Yes" Hanabi answered the attorney who was defending the very family she was turning against.

"But Hinata san, why would they kill her if they were going to take her special abilities? Why don't they just kill her without going through the trouble of sealing her?"

"That is...I don't know."

"Aren't you the heir? The second most important member of the Hyuugas?"

"Yes, but they refused to include me because of my age!" She clenched her fists.

The lawyer said, "Hokage sama, it seems that the charge of murder might be too much of a stretch,"

"So you'll plead guilty on charges of kidnapping and sealing the byakugan?"

"No, we insist that Hiashi sama was merely following the traditions and rules of his clan. We shouldn't even be in court for this."

"Objection." Kakashi said in a bored voice. "The attorney is challenging the legal decision to have a fair trial," Who knew that Kakashi agreed to be the attorney of Team 7?

"Accepted. Plaintiff, watch your mouth. Hanabi did the right thing as the heir and citizen to ask for this trial"

"Yes, hokage sama."

"We shall continue this trial tomorrow at 8 in the morning," Tsunade then hit her mallet three times, and everyone rose from their seats.

* * *

Like everyone else, including the Hyuugas, Team 7 also left the courtroom.

"Sasuke kun, aren't you going home?"

He just turned and walked away, his hands tucked in his pockets. Naruto was already on his way to Ichiraku Ramen, saying "now that I know I might have jail time."

Sasuke kept walking, and Sakura already know where he was going.

* * *

"Hi, can I see Hinata?"

At the request of a boy whose dark eyes fringed with long lashes looked up at hers, the nurse's smile faltered

"Oh, Sasuke kun..."

As he stared at the nurse's face, his eyes widened and he grit his teeth.

He ran down the corridor, and the nurse called him.

"Sasuke kun!"

Slam!

The room was empty. The blankets folded neatly. It was a private hospital suite that Tsunade specially reserved for Hinata.

The bathroom door was open. There was nobody.

* * *

A pair of long, young legs ran down the main courtyard the Uchiha Mansion and stepped up the main porch.

Hinata san seemed very uncomfortable in the hospital. Possibly even phobic. We tried to stop her, but...

 **Slid-**

A young woman with long black hair and lavender tinted white eyes turned at the sound of the sliding doors to the kitchen.

"...Sasuke."

He was panting heavily, covering his mouth with the back of his fist. She can see his dark hair matted to his forehead because of sweat.

His wide eyes were fixed on her as his chest heaved up and down in over exertion. She was standing in front of the sink, washing her hands. Next to her was a hot pot of miso with tofu.

When she fully turned her body toward him, he can see the white gauze band on her left cheek. He kept staring.

"Un? Oh, this..." her slender fingers gently touched the cotton gauze, "It's nothing. It's a little swollen but-Sasuke?"

As he turned away and left the kitchen, Hinata followed after him, "Sasuke!"

He went up the stairs and barged into her bedroom, the one that is a few doors away from his.

"Sasuke!"

He grabbed duffel bag he saw lying around in the corner and threw it on her bed. Then he opened her wardrobe that had her winter clothes and her drawers with intimates.

She held onto his arm, "Sasuke, please!"

He stuffed some of her clothes and essentials in the bag in a hurried silence and zipped it.

"I'm not going back!"

Ignoring her, he grabbed her hand with his free one and walked out. Even though she knew more jutsus and had better chakra control and fighting skills, he was a lot stronger than her when it comes to pure physical strength. She couldn't free herself from his grasp even if she wanted to.

As he dragged her outside the mansion, Hinata called out, "Sasuke, what's wrong?"

What's wrong? Is she serious? In stunned disbelief, he slightly turned and glared at her, his mouth about to snap at her out of frustration.

She was looking at him, slightly angry about his rough treatment and very worried, "How...how did the trial go?"

He can be mean and sometimes erratic, but he never rough handled her outside of training.

He stared at her for a few seconds. And then turned and kept walking straight without looking back and letting go of her hand.

Suddenly Hinata felt something like a hunch. She didn't struggle her hand away anymore.

Her head hung low as they walked in the main street. He stalked through his way while Hinata followed silently, her feet dragging a little.

Passerbyes looked oddly at the sight of a eighteen year old young woman bowing her head low as she was being dragged in the direction of the Main hospital, by a boy a couple inches shorter than her.

"We don't have enough physical evidence to incarcerate them," Sasuke kept his dark eyes forward as he explained in a low, calm voice.

"The evidence we have is either circumstantial or witness testimony. And the bastards aren't opening their mouths- just using their stupid right to remain silent." his hand kept holding hers,

"Tsunade is authorizing a full on investigation, so we will find something." His voice was firm like the hand that clutched onto hers.

But both of them knew the chance to find evidence is slim because of the aftermath of the fire.

As they started getting closer, Sasuke started feeling bad for rough-handling her. He slightly turned his head but then he stopped in his tracks.

"Hhmph...hmmp...huk..."

Although her long dark hair concealed her tear drenched face, he can still tell.

A little vein jumped in his clenched jaw, and he resolutely turned and tried walking straight as he just did.

But his steps stalled, slowing down a bit. The hand he was holding on slipped as he loosened his hard grip on both her hand.

He dropped the bag in the middle of the ground.

"!"

Then he fully stopped, spun around and grabbed both of her shoulders, and Hinata lifted her head in surprise. She looked at the boy who has grown up a lot but was still a boy, not yet a man.

He didn't lift his face, so Hinata stared at him, not knowing what to say. She noticed that the wind cast a shade on his face and dried his sweat drenched hair a bit.

She even forgot to wipe the trace of tears from her face.

He finally broke the silence. "I'm going to hold my ground."

His finger digits pressed on her skin where he was grabbing her shoulders. Firmly but not painfully.

"Hold yours," he ordered, his dark eyes boring into hers. Suddenly his eyes looked too adult on his young face.

He worried his bottom lip a bit, before finally saying what he wanted to tell her most.

"And...wait."

A breeze gently rustled both of their black hair and edges of their clothes as they stood, facing each other.

* * *

 _Bamm!_

 _He was back in the Hyuuga's damn torture cellar before it was burnt, and Hinata was back in her chains._

 _Her body slouched forward as he once again removed the hideous iron mask from her eyes._

 _Thankfully, she was alive. He delicately cupped her left cheek marred with red finger prints and swore that he'll burn the the bastard's digits himself so he can never lift his hand on a girl again._

 _But then he was taken aback by his train of thoughts. Since when did he saw Kidnapper as a girl?_

 _Even though they never discussed it openly, he understood that Hinata needed a ruse in the form of a adoption paper to justify living with him._

 _He was no longer resentful of her arbitrary decision to adopt him, even though he still remained brusque and rude as ever._

 _But he would always call her "Kidnapper." If he calls her by her name, then that would mean he is accepting her as a sister or mother figure._

 _He can never agree to that. And it was not just because of his pride. He never had a sister or mother, but he was sure that he wasn't supposed to have these feelings._

 _As he overlapped the ugly finger prints with his pale hand, he can't help examining her closely. She did look quite young for her age. A lot younger than kunoichis her age._

 _'Maybe she is younger than eighteen and just lied about her age to adopt me,' he wondered as he kept touching her face._

 _He is fifteen. She is eighteen. Yeah, a three year age gap might not seem much, but it's a world apart from any teenager's perspective._

 _Technically, she is an adult who can get married right away._

 _There was always a surplus of losers who wanted to do that or something like that. He grimaced._

 _He never had issues with his young age as that bolstered his reputation as one of the most promising, talented ninjas in Konohan history. But now..._

 _As he racked his head over these thoughts he never had to bother with, his thumb slipped and accidentally brushed against her lips._

 _Minute hair at the back of his neck stood at the sensation._

 _Goosebumps rose on his arms, as his eyes stared into her pale, dry but supple mouth._

 _He had to get her out now. To the hospital. She hates it, but there she can be protected and treated...and..._

 _His thumb slowly retraced her bottom lip, and he can't help but be mesmerized by the soft feel of her skin and quiet breathing._

 _Despite her uncomfortable predicament, her face looked peaceful and it made him want to just stare at her like some creep._

 _His mind was screaming at him to get a grip, but it seemed like his hand had a mind of its own._

 _At his self-control slipped between his fingers like sand, he felt his lips and tongue getting dry and his heart pounding. He was getting scared._

 _There it was. Fear._

 _But also...passion._

 _"A younger" Remembering what she said before, he arched toward her face, "...brother."_

"Hey teme, wake the hell up!"

Sasuke's eyes blinked open, and he stared into the ceiling of their cell and then at the small barred window that offered some light and air

in what the dobe called "the worst place in Konoha"-the 'juvenile detention facility,'

which is just another name for a prison of unsalvageable, dysfunctional brats like the pre-Hinata Sasuke he used to be.

Even though he was far from being liked by his peers, with the exception of fangirls of course,

but everyone would nod in agreement that Sasuke's life and character can be divided into "before Hinata" and "after Hinata."

Even someone as unobservant as Naruto can clearly see that living with Hinata did significant improvement on the antisocial, scowling orphan who practically bristled at authority and comradrie.

Naruto gawked, "Wow, how can you look so unimpressed and cocky waking up?" He looked visibly repulsed by Sasuke's face.

"Shut up." He rose.

Tok tok

"Prisoner 301,Prisoner 302"

They rose and glared at the Anbu guard who knocked on their cell.

"Get up. The trial at 8 is starting in thirty minutes."

* * *

"Tsunade sama, it is not fair! How come Sasuke and Naruto are in prison while the Hyuugas get to roam free?"

The pink haired girl raised her voice at the hokage and genius medic nin whom she always revered but now she just can't understand.

Seated in front of her office desk, Tsunade sorted through the papers. She took off her pair of glasses and looked straight into Sakura's green ones.

"Sakura, technically it is difficult to put the Hyuugas under arrest. Unless we have definite proof of their guilt, we cannot lay a hand on them. The best we can do is interrogate them."

"But Tsunade sama, we don't have much time!"

"That's why it would be more productive if you start getting ready to testify, Sakura,"

Tsunade rose from her seat, her mint green kimono slightly ruffling, "you're only lucky that you got to bail off jail time, because you didn't do as much as an extensive damage like Naruto and Sasuke."

"Tsunade sama..." Now Sakura felt her eyes tearing up in frustration.

In contrast with her cold exterior, the tall blond hokage laid a reassuring hand on her student's shoulder.

"Come. We must go."

* * *

After Sakura provided a lengthy testimony about how the three of them discovered Hinata, the Hyuuga's attorney rose from his seat and started questioning her.

"Haruno san, so you just said that you have personally examined the anesthesiac that was in Hinata san's system, correct?"

"Yes. I was the first one to notice that she was drugged."

"And you are currently part of the investigation team that is examining the DNA evidence?"

"Yes. It was the order of Tsunade sama."

The attorney turned away from Sakura and addressed the jury, "Isn't it strange? That one of the perpetrators of the attack on my clients is being trusted with the evidence?"

"I would never mess with the evidence!" Sakura raised her voice in indignation.

Sasuke bit his lip. Sakura was doing so well, but now that the attorney is getting on her nerves, she is losing her cool.

Naruto looked worried too. Even he knew that Sakura getting fired up will do more bad than good in the courtroom.

Tsunade quirked her eyebrow. That prick dared to question her choices again?

If she wasn't the judge, she would have rammed his prim, weasly face with her elbow and send him to the farthest clinic in the most remote area of Konoha.

"Hokage sama," Kakashi raised his hand, "Sakura is not the only one in the lab. She is always accompanied by at least three jounins. "

"That's true. That was also under my orders," Tsunade replied. "Go on, lawyer-san. You don't need to worry about her tempering with evidence."

Unaware of the snark in her tone, the attorney continued.

"But hokage sama, Haruno san already has tempered with the evidence."

Interlacing her red manicured fingers, Tsunade ordered, "Clarify,"

"When Haruno san extracted what she claimed to be an anesthesiac from an unconscious Hinata san," the attorney glanced at a pale and angry Sakura, "she not only contaminated it with her bare hands...She crushed it!"

"That's..!"

"Why did you crush the evidence, Haruno san?" The attorney paced around, looking at her like a livestock animal about to be slaughtered.

"I...I" Sakura bowed her head, her fists clutching her red robe, "I was so angry. I couldn't believe that they would...!"

He interrupted her, "Is it because there NEVER was such evidence in the first place?"

"I didn't lie!" She raised her face and yelled. Her emerald eyes were growing teary, and she was getting very emotional.

"I will kill that guy," Naruto gritted his teeth.

"The Hyuugas definitely dished out on their money," Kakashi muttered, his arms crossed.

"Haruno san, is it true that you and Sasuke-san have...special feelings?" The attorney glanced at Sasuke, handcuffed and seated on the plaintiff seat. "Possibly one-sided?"

If looks can kill, the attorney would have been dead as soon as he saw Sasuke.

"Yes, but that has nothing to do-!"

"Just answer yes or no please, Haruno-san," the attorney swayed his hand as if swatting a fly. 'Girls are just so easy to manipulate,' he thought.

Sakura bowed her head. She never felt so insulted. "...Yes."

"Haruno san, you claim that you were the first to note that Hinata san was sedated, but you contaminated the evidence AND annihilated it, with your bare hands."

Seeing how Sakura was slowly crumbling under pressure, the attorney threw his final blow, "Is it possible that you fabricated this story in order to help your love interest-"

"Enough!" Tsunade slammed on the pulpit.

Seeing how devastated Sakura was, Tsunade ordered, "Haruno is no longer at the optimal condition to be a witness. I will have the doctor in charge of Hinata san testify instead."

A baby faced woman in a white lab coat, named Dr. Mikami Sayu, quickly replaced Sakura.

Kakashi stood up as soon as the Hyuuga's attorney walked back to his seat.

The attorney sat with Hiashi with a smug look. There was no way a mere ninja can outwit him.

"Dr. Mikami, could you tell me in what condition did you find Hinata san?"

"She was in a very bad condition, Hatake-san," the doctor grimaced, "Right away we had to forcibly extract the sedatives that were in her body through suction."

"Can you explain the process?" Kakashi leaned on his desk, appearing to idly examine his fingernails.

"It's a very distasteful process. As well as painful. It involves using a tube that can suck off the chemical sedatives through her throat. Even the healthiest and well trained ninja has to vomit heavily at least three times to be at the safe range if he is THAT sedated."

"How did that go?"

Dr. Mikami grimaced, "She was so overwrought and in pain that she begged us to let her go home."

A tiny vein ticked in Sasuke's throat, and Naruto flinched to see the look that flitted across his friend's dark eyes.

"Dr, how seriously was she drugged?"

"Very, very serious," she shook her head, "Not even the most notorious of the Anbu investigation unit can't use such amount without the hokage's signed approval."

"Is it possible that...the Hyuugas planned this all along?"

"Objection, Hatake san is stating his conjecture as a fact!"

"Dismissed. Doctor, answer the question."

The doctor sighed, closing her eyes, "It is impossible to accumulate such potent sedatives in a short time."

"If Sakura didn't remove the mouth piece, what would have happened?"

"If Haruno Sakura didn't pull out the anesthesiac right away...even we couldn't guarantee Hinata san's safety. At worst, she might have been in a permanent vegetated state."

Silence fell on the courtroom like cold water.

"Thanks, I mean thank you, Doctor." Kakashi can be a genius, but he just can't be a suave talker.

Feeling a bit more level-headed, Tsunade looked at both the jury and the rest in the court room.

"The proof must show that the Hyuugas have been devising a long-term plan to abduct and murder Hinata san. If there isn't such evidence, then the Hyuugas cannot be charged with such crimes."

The jury nodded. Iruka sensei and the Suna ninja ambassador scribbled some notes.

The attorney approached Hinata's doctor, a bit more respectfully than he did with Sakura.

"Dr. Mikami, are you aware of the market situation of the said sedative?"

"A little bit," she answered.

"How expensive is this drug?"

"Very. And the market isn't so big. Black markets, AKA "drug flea shops" try to imitate the product but they can't beat the original."

"Is the price difference noticeable.?"

"50 times. In this season, the original patented one costs even more than that."

"Then it is possible that a clan as wealthy my clients can get their hands on such items."

"Yes, it would take much wealth and capital. I imagine it might be possible for someone like the Hyuugas."

"Is it chemically possible to turn the sedatives in a solid form? Possibly like a mouthpiece?"

Dr. Mikami frowned, "Not that I know of. It might be, but the Board of Doctors of Affiliated Villages (BDAV) has no idea that such thing even exists."

The doctor continued, "The sedatives were close to being absorbed by Hinata san. Whatever shape it assumed before, there isn't a way for us to know."

"Very interesting. Doctor, what is the use for this drug if it is so harmful?"

"It was not invented to hurt people, lawyer san," the doctor crossed her legs,

"It was meant for intensive surgeries, like ones that deal with chakra nerves or diseases like cardiac arrest. But it is also common knowledge that people use it for recreational purposes. Like marijuana, for example."

"Thank you, Dr. Mikami. I have all my questions answered."

At his words, Dr. Mikami bowed her head and dismissed herself from the courtroom, to go back to taking care of Hinata and other patients.

The attorney turned toward the jury, "I ask the jury to be aware that there is possibility that Hinata san might have a severe case of...substance abuse."

"!"

The jury were scandalized. Hinata, the village's sweetheart, is a drug addict? And her adopted brother attacked the wealthiest, most powerful clan in Konoha to scapegoat them?

The rest of the courtroom people started murmuring aloud. Surely this was getting interesting.

Tsunade had to use her mallet three times to shush the people.

The attorney cleared his throat,

"What kind of person Hinata san was, where she came from. This is all a mystery.

Who knows if she committed crimes like substance abuse and had to settle in Konoha?

She is wealthy enough to purchase the Uchiha mansion, so she can acquire this drug as much as she wants.

She made the most impulsive decision to adopt the village's biggest lost-cause,"

he glanced at Sasuke as he said this, but quickly averted his eyes as he sweated bullets,

"and jury-sans, we all know that addicts have a bad case of making irrational life choices."

Right now Sasuke wanted to taste blood. Fresh lawyer blood.

* * *

Wamm-

Back in the cell, Sasuke sat on the stone floor.

Naruto was sporting a purple bruise on his left eye as he sat cross-legged on the bed Sasuke offered as a silent apology gift.

Naruto was rubbing an egg onto his bruise, while Sasuke faced the wall and rewinded what Kakashi said in his head.

Sasuke, if you have hit Hyuuga's lawyer-san, that would not have helped your case at all. You're lucky that Naruto jumped in before that weasel got the hit.

If you do that one more time, Tsunade would have to detain you in isolation. Don't make her do that.

He groaned as he remembered Kakshi's words. That was Kakashi's closest to losing his temper.

"Prisoner-"

"If you call us by that one more time, i will stuff your mouth with this egg, old man! My name is Naruto, the Naruto, and I'm going to be the hokage-"

"Alright alright, future hokage, and prisoner 302, step out. We need to have you both in the investigation room."

"For what?" Sasuke asked.

"They found this strange photo of Hinata san in the site, and the Anbu found finger prints on it. You guys might recognize it."

* * *

Flap- Kakashi slapped a photograph in a plastic zipper bag on the desk.

Naruto and Sasuke took a look at the image that was staring at them back.

The Interrogation room was a white room with a long rectangular table and a wide window on the wall.

Even though Sasuke couldn't see through the glass, he knew that Tsunade and other investigating jounins were watching him and his friend beyond the window.

Naruto broke the silence, "What is this?"

Kakashi deadpanned, "It's an x-ray image of a person's skull."

"Yeah, I can see that, but why are you showing this to us?"

The photo was a black and white waxy photograph of a profile of a skull.

The only colors popping out were the red, orange, blue and green hues in the brain area that Sasuke recognized in this textbook about chakra waves.

Then a realization hit.

"Ninjas everywhere are just starting to make machines that can trace chakra waves," Kakashi explained, 'like how some cameras can show electromagnetic movement of heat waves.'

But this further added to the mystery.

Sasuke said, "But the most high tech images that the ninjas are making come from Lightning Country."

Kakashi crossed his arms and nodded, "And those only can capture 56 % of the actual chakra waves in the subject's body. This has a 98 % accuracy with the subject's."

Naruto squinted his eyes and took a closer look at the photo.

Kakashi continued, "But this x-ray photo is at least a few decades ahead of the contemporary technology. I never heard of a machine that can show both the chakra waves and the bones and organs. Not even Dr. Mikami knows of this."

Flap - He pulled out an A4 paper with color images and captions in front of Naruto and Sasuke. The color images were of various x ray pictures of skulls, and the captions showed the name, date of birth, blood type, and relationship to Hiashi.

"Where did all this come from?" Naruto asked.

"From the same place where Sasuke allegedly found Hinata san. Have you seen these images anywhere else, Sasuke?"

"No."

"Well, after producing X-ray visions of all Hyuuga adults over the age 18, we couldn't find a match. But we finally did."

"Who is it then?" Naruto asked a little impatiently.

"The photo was of Hinata san."

"!"

Seeing how the inside of the zipper bag is slightly smudged with black, Naruto noted, ""The ink hasn't even dried out completely. The asshole took the photo and stuffed it in in a rush."

Kakashi nodded, "It is weird that technology is that advanced, but you have to still wait for the ink to dry."

Then he asked a question "Do you have any idea of whose finger prints these can be, Sasuke, Naruto?"

"You can just examine the Hyuugas' finger prints in the Konoha files."

"We don't have time. There's more than 300 of possible culprits in the clan. We narrowed it down. 240 of them are right handed. But there is a possibility that this could be someone who is not a Hyuuga."

Naruto scratched his forehead and groaned, as if fighting a migraine.

"We have to arrest the prime suspect and get definite evidence by the hearing tomorrow morning at 8. And you know that this is the last hearing."

"Well, what are we waiting for? Get us out here, so we can find the son-of-a"

"It'll take too long to get an authorized permission," Kakashi interrupted, "Sasuke, do you have any idea who could have touched this photo?"

Sasuke held the zipper bag that had the x ray pic in his left hand, between his index and thumb. He stared at it without making a sound.

He then raised his dark eyes that held a raging storm.

"...Yeah"

* * *

Hinata took a look at the male Hyuuga in the picture. She was back in the private hospital suite room, donned in a light blue patient's uniform. Kakashi was standing by her bedside, holding a yellow manila file.

The sunlight was making its way across the linen curtains.

It was six in the morning, the morning of the final hearing of Team 7 and Hinata vs. Hyuugas.

After scrutinizing the photo for a moment, she opened her lips. "Yes, he's the one."

"The one who hit you?" Kakashi confirmed.

"Yes."

"Good. That means we're getting close."

Right when Kakashi made a move to leave, Hinata stopped him.

"Sensei, can you tell me what will happen...in case the Hyuugas win?"

She was worried. What will happen to Naruto? What will happen to the poor girl Hanabi and Neji? What about...

Kakashi looked at her for a moment, "Why didn't you use your alternative powers, Hinata san?"

"Pardon?" Her eyes widened as the strange silver-haired shinobi asked her a question when she just asked him a question.

"You could have used the 'dark, inhumane' power that is clearly not yours when you fought with the Hyuugas," Kakashi continued, "But you chose to rely on your authentic, limited chakra."

His voice lowered dangerously as he towered over her sitting form with his superior height, "You could've killed yourself."

Under the shadow of his tall, lean but muscled stature, she looked up at him, "I didn't...because of my promise to be more careful with the powers bestowed to me."

His eye widened, and it seems that the mouth under his mask was slightly agape. Is this girl serious? She was willing to risk her life to keep a promise she made with him?

On one hand, he can understand why she would take such extreme precaution to hide her mysterious power during her battle with the Hyuugas.

Even if she survived, the news of a young woman single handedly defeating one of the most powerful clans in all the villages combined would raise suspicion and unwanted attention.

But what she was doing was borderline suicidal.

Kakashi lowered himself and leveled his eye with Hinata's lipid white eyes that widened in shock.

"What is driving you to such measures, Hinata san?" His voice, muffled by the mask, was a surprisingly soothing baritone.

She blushed, clearly not used to having a man look at her so intimately and closely. "I-I...made a promise to someone."

He stared at her, and she blushed even more and shook her head, "Be-besides you, Kakashi sensei."

"Aww, that hurt my feelings Hinata san."

"I-I'm so sorry!"

"Just kidding."

He cocked his head to one side, "A lover?"

She blushed a furious red, and Kakashi observed with amusement the way she looked like she was going to explode of embarrassment,

"No-n-no! I can't tell you all, sensei, but...my promise to that person has to do with Sasuke's safety and happiness."

Kakshi lifted his upper body straight and stroked his chin with his index and thumb, looking down at the flustered girl.

"Well, talking about Sasuke...Do you remember Hinata san, when he botched the surprise dinner party you held a year ago?"

"Ye-yes...of course." She gave him a questioning look. Why all of the sudden...?

He crossed his arms and cocked his head to the other side. "Do you know that he came to my apartment shortly after that night?"

She stared at him with a face that told him she had no idea what he was talking about.

Then he looked outside the window, placing his handsome chin on his fist again, "He pounded on my door, demanded me to stop whatever I was doing, and get the "crazy Kidnapper with Kusanagi" out of my house."

"Wh-why would I be at your house, sensei?!"

Kakashi uncrossed his arms and shrugged toward a mortified Hinata, "My point is Hinata san, that Sasuke's safety might be at risk,"

Her face fell as he uttered those words and turned around to finally leave the hospital room, "but in regards to his happiness...maybe you shouldn't look too far,"

"Kakashi sensei, please wait!"

Shut-

But he was already gone by the time she reached out her hand and called out his name in a plaintive wail, causing the nurses and Dr. Mikami to rush to her side.

* * *

"I confess," said Hiashi.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto at all! I make no money from this.

* * *

"Repeat again, Hiashi?"

Tsunade almost stammered, a look of shock gracing her glamorous face. She almost dropped the mallet into the floor, throwing all her dignity as judge and hokage out of the window.

"I confess...to all charges, hokage sama," the head of the clan lowered his eyes, a rare display of deference and humility from the stoic, proud man.

The audience in the court all cannot keep their mouthes shut, and a flurry of whispers and tortured sighs took the courtroom by storm.

 _Tang Tang Tang-!_

"Silence!" She roared.

The Hyuuga's attorney whom Sasuke almost punched on the face was out of sight. Half of the Hyuuga's Main branch members were packing their stuff, leaving the courtroom without throwing as much as a glance toward their former leader.

'So much for clan loyalty,' Sasuke thought.

Then he glowered at the Hyuuga male who was blubbering with tears and snot flowing down from his squinting white eyes and nostrils.

He was on the witness's seat, basically begging for mercy from Tsunade who looked thoroughly unimpressed.

"I...I didn't mean to hit her, I swear. Please, I just got carried away,"

"So that's our man, huh?" Naruto said aloud. "Sure cries a lot for a guy his size."

"It was a stroke of luck that the man who had assaulted Hinata san was the same who handled the x ray photos," Kakashi said to his students, "and Sasuke's photographic memory of the fingerprint on her face helped us."

Kakashi made a curt nod toward Sasuke, but his entire attention was on the male Hyuuga who acted like he was all that by hitting Hinata but was nothing but a slobbering coward.

He was practically frying the man's digits with a scalding fire jutsu in his mind.

Having no way to know what was in her crush's mind, Sakura cannot help but blush and stare lovingly at Sasuke. He was her hero.

Ignoring the male Hyuuga's screams as he was dragged out the courtroom by two Anbu guards, Tsunade turned to Hiashi.

"Hiashi, then why did you attempt to to kill Hinata san?"

"It was a last minute decision," he closed his eyes before opening them again, "After seeing her unprecedented mastery of the 'Gentle fist,' my people and I decided that she was a future liability."

"Despicab-!" Gai sensei stood up, but Kurenai slapped her palm on his mouth, murmuring "Shut up."

"Yes, what I did was truly...shameful, as a clan leader and," Hiashi paused, "as a father."

When he glanced at his daughter who was sitting behind the plaintiffs, Hanabi snapped her face forward and pretended to not notice her father's look of dejection as she did so.

Looking at the interaction between the usually apathetic man and his teenage daughter, Tsunade cleared her throat.

"Then I shall discuss with my advisors about what to do with you and your underlings. Unless someone in the plaintiff side wants to make a deal, Hiashi and the Main clan members shall be sentenced to years of jail time without possibility of parole."

And down went her mallet three times.

As soon as she announced the winner of the case, the Anbu guards promptly placed chakra-sealing handcuffs on Hiashi's wrists and the others'.

Unused to such violation of honor, some Main branch members struggled, unlike Hiashi who decided that it is wiser if he surrenders to his fate.

As the Anbu guards took him to the center aisle of the courtroom toward the exit, Hiashi looked at his daughter,

"Hanabi, I..."

But his daughter stormed out from the courtroom, refusing to let anyone, let alone her father, see the tears that threatened to sting her eyes.

* * *

"Hiashi sam-I mean, Prisoner H01, you have a visiter."

As soon as he heard the metal door open, his sombre grey white eyes lit up in expectation but then dimmed in realization.

It was Hinata, donned in a dark purple coat that highlighted her milky orbs that stared solemnly into his tired white ones.

Her gloved hand was holding a manila folder that probably held news about his death sentence.

But he just closed his eyes in resignation.

Even he had a sense of shame as he faced this young woman who quietly sat herself in front of him.

An Anbu guard stood at the corner, eyeing them in case Hiashi attempts to assault the woman who was still in recovery.

She could yell at him all kinds of curses, punch or kick at him for not only trying to take away her key to survival but also kill her in the most painful way, and he could still not even voice a word of protest. He doesn't deserve to.

But the young woman, more like a girl, merely stared into the older man's face without showing any emotions except pity and regret for the once majestic man who has fallen so far, to be held in contempt by the men who once idolized him.

And this man who stood emotionless and proud even when his own clansmen abandoned him in a flash of an eye, was clearly struggling to maintain his last shred of dignity in front of her.

Finally she opened her mouth, "Hiashi sama,"

The man bowed his head before her, "I'm not fit for that title anymore. Please call me Prisoner H01."

She bit her lip for a second and then continued. "Hiashi san, what caused you to change your mind?"

When he answered, she was speechless for a moment. She then nodded and continued, "The truth is...I came to ask you some questions."

Hiashi nodded, so she opened the contents of her folder that she brought.

Instead of the death sentence he was expecting, she pulled out the x-ray photos of her skull that showed the colorful chakra veins laced across her eyes, signs of her superior byakugan.

"I assume that you had this picture taken while I was unconscious."

He nodded.

"I recognize this technology. There's only one man capable of producing this. The inventor. But he should be dead."

Her usually gentle eyes showed a sharp glint of light.

"But I didn't expect to see this now...let alone in the Hyuuga's compound. How did you get your hands on this, Hiashi san?"

The man closed his eyes. His complexion looked unusually haggard as he was wearing a dull colored prisoner's uniform.

"I wasn't the one to receive this x-ray machine and the instructions on how to use it. It was my fore-ancestors, the direct 38th lineage of the founding fathers of my clan."

"How long ago was this?"

Hiashi noticed the uneasiness in her voice and demeanor.

"If the Hyuuga records are anything to hold on to...then it would be a thousand years ago. A thousand years ago, a divine medicine man gave my forefathers the x-ray technology. Our clan has kept it secret throughout years."

At Hiashi's words, Hinata's face became noticeably pale and she clenched her fists that were on her lap.

She whispered, "Describe the man to me..." She rose from her seat, shivering, "Describe what he looked like...!"

"Hinata san, you must remain calm," the Anbu guard who was watching approached her, "We can't have you if you get this excited, so please leav-"

"Tall...with grey hair, long enough to reach his shoulders, and serpentine yellow eyes behind round-rimmed glasses."

The Anbu guard flinched at the look that sped across the petite young woman's face. Hinata became still as death.

"The divine medicine man handed my forefathers the device and instructed them to use it if we ever encounter the person he's looking for," Hiashi continued,

"Strangely Hinata san, the medicine man's description of the person he was looking for is identical to your features. Dark bluish black hair. White eyes with light purple shadows. Height from 5ft to 5ft 2."

"Hinata san!"

The Anbu guard quickly grabbed her as she nearly stumbled onto her seat, her eyes zoned out.

"Hinata san, we must take you to the emergency!"

She held out her hand to quiet the Anbu guard. Her eyes were now calm and steady, but a cold sweat formed on the temple of her face.

"So...you carried on your ancestor's will...by taking the x ray photo of me."

Hiashi nodded.

"That means...he's still alive? But...but that's impossible."

"That I don't know. The medicine man didn't give out his name. But he claimed that he is immortal and his machine has a mysterious way of transferring the images into his own 'laboratory,'"

Hinata laid a hand on her forehead and shut her eyes tight.

"Then...he must have got it then. He knows where I am."

'And that means...Sasuke is in danger,'

"No."

"!"

"The orphan...I believe his name is Naruto, he blew up the machine before it got to "fax" the photos. He said that it takes at least an hour to fax such high resolution photos."

Color returned to Hinata's face. She got really scared there.

"If you've got nothing else to ask, I must retire," as Hiashi rose from his seat, Hinata remained seated.

"Hiashi san, my business with you is not done yet," she raised her eyes, "As plaintiff and prime victim of your clan's kidnapping, I gained the hokage's approval...to make a deal."

* * *

The sun was setting, so orange rays that shone through the mountains entered through the wide window.

Hinata was back in her hospital room where she was sitting on her bed.

She was in a better mood, as her other great doctor, Dr. Kim said that she got rid of all the poison out of her system and now she can eat solid food.

She was humming a tune as she wiped the dust off a slender green leaf of an orchid Ino got for her. Her thoughts were in a jumble, but she decided to enjoy the peace and calm for now.

 _Tok-tok_

"Come in," her sweet voice ushered Hanabi and behind her, Neji to enter.

She smiled at them.

Meanwhile Hanabi was quiet, her head bowed down. Seeing the sullen girl clenching her fists tight, Hinata's smile dropped.

"Hanabi..."

The girl marched toward Hinata, with tension evident in her stiff shoulders.

"Why did you do that?" Hanabi suddenly raised her voice, causing both Hinata and Neji to flinch.

She raised her tearful, angry eyes at the woman in the light blue patient's uniform, "I almost got you killed! But why...how badly do you want to make me a coward, huh?"

"Hanabi..." Neji approached her, but Hanabi yelled, "You all know! If it wasn't me, you wouldn't...! You didn't have to...!"

She couldn't complete her sentences as she fought the tears that welled up in her eyes anyways.

"Hanabi," the blunette raised her pale, slender hand and gently caressed the girl's sleek brown hair, "what upsets you so?"

At the unexpected gentle touch, the angry girl widened her eyes and looked into kind, concerned pearlescent eyes. Hanabi's lips quivered, and she raised her fist to her eyes, no longer bothering to fight the torrent of tears.

"Me and Neji ni came here right away when we heard the final sentence... You asked Tsunade sama to reduce my father's jail time in return for...making me and Neji ni dual heads of the clan."

"Hanabi, if I didn't agree to reduce the Main members' imprisonment time...they would've never agreed to relinquish their power to you and Neji. I had no choice."

"That's the problem! What are you, some living saint? A Buddha? You should've just let them rot for all they're worth! You should have let me...!"

But Hanabi couldn't complete her rant as two soft hands cupped both sides of her cheeks, forcing her to look straight into Hinata's warm but serious eyes.

"Are you that sorry about tricking me, Hanabi?"

"Of course I am!"

The girl choked on her own tears. She never cried this much. She was always the cold, cool girl, the heiress to the Hyuuga clan. But feeling the young woman's soft sisterly touch, she can't help but cry like a baby.

"Do you want to make up to me?"

"With my life!" She swiped her tears with the back of her hand.

"Then change the old and make it new...with Neji."

"!"

She withdrew her hands from Hanabi's face and clasped them together and closed her eyes, "It was you...who gave me hope about the clan. Since you defied the old order of your family, you can open a new era. How you do it...is up to you and Neji."

"But...I am...my father's daughter,"

Hanabi bit her lip. What makes this strange woman so trustful? She can't even trust herself. Her coward, liar, and murderer of a father's blood is flowing in her veins.

Hinata opened her eyes and looked into Hanabi's wet ones, "Do you know why your father choose to confess, Hanabi?"

At the mention of Hiashi, Hanabi scowled and tried to turn her face away, but Hinata quickly cupped her cheeks the same way she did a moment ago.

"No, no, don't do that. Hanabi, he did it because of you."

"Liar!"

"It's true...I visited him today...in Konoha prison."

Hanabi's eyes widened, but her lips remained obstinately shut. But Hinata didn't give up.

"When I asked him why he chose to confess...he told me that after the second hearing, when you told him that you were ashamed to call him your father...he started regretting everything he has done."

Hanabi slowly turned her gaze to Hinata who said, "Your father loves you."

Then a comfortable silence ensued as she kept holding Hanabi's tear drenched face. Neji who was observing the two's interaction decided to give them space.

However, as he turned,

 _Bamm!_

The three snapped their heads toward the intruder who was seething with rage.

Hinata let go of Hanabi and looked into a pair of furious dark eyes that glowered in suspicion.

"...Sasuke,"

However, Sasuke turned his full attention to the white eyed boy who was about his height.

"...You"

As he hissed, he grabbed Neji's collar and malignantly swung him across the room, _Wamm!_

"Sasuke, stop!"

But his rage refused to be abated by the plea in her voice. He towered over Neji who grunted in pain as he tried to raise himself from the cracked wall. There was no trace of fear in the boy's eyes as he faced his peer.

"I don't know what you did to appeal the decision," Neji looked up and he would have sworn that he saw Sasuke's infamous abysmal eyes turn glowing red, "but I swear I'll kill you and that bratty cousin of yours"

But nobody looked as shocked as Hinata to see Sasuke's transformation.

Her lips turned so pale that it looked almost white, "The...Sharingan...but that's not possible!"

"Hinata!"

At the desperation of Hanabi's voice, Sasuke and Neji both switched their attention to the young woman who collapsed in Hanabi's slender arms.

"Move!"

Sasuke pushed Hanabi away so hard that Neji had to move fast to catch her in his arms.

As Hinata slowly lost consciousness as she trembled in Sasuke's arms, she murmured, "You...you're not supposed to have...the Waker's powers anymore...Why..."

And at last she fainted in his arms.

"Hinata! Hinata!"

Sasuke shouted her name, and anybody could hear and see the creeping desperation in his gestures and voice.

But Sasuke clearly heard the last name she uttered before she fell into his arms that cradled her reflexively, "...Kabuto..."

For a moment, he held her without saying a word. Then he turned his face slightly, glancing in the direction of Neji and Hanabi.

His eyes were burning a deep red that looked diabolical and sinister on the young boy's face. The black of his hair and the paleness of his complexion heightened the eerie red glow.

He spat out the words deliberately as he held the older girl possessively and glowered at Neji and Hanabi as if they were trying to take her away from him.

"Get...the hell out."

* * *

5010 years ago

In the mountains where the dark sky meets pitch black pines, a humble procession of about ten people walked in the woods, carrying burning torches.

In the night of the last marked day of fall, owls hooted, and a little girl in the group flinched at the sound of fluttering wings that matched the palpitation of her anxious heart.

The fire dancing on their oiled matches and torches illuminated their sullen faces and strange white eyes. As the black mud caked to the soles of the barefoot,

their faces stiffened in disgust but they ploughed through the spidery branches in dogged determination.

But they were not beggars with cataracts as some would presume.

In their glory days, the neighboring tribes would have recognized and revered them as the 'Hyuugas.'

But since their fall from wealth and prestige due to tribal wars, they became nomads, dressed in buckskins and surviving on wild berries and roots.

There was a little girl who stood out in this taciturn group who ventured through this dark valley.

She was especially dirty, and her long bangs covered her eyes. It was a mystery as to how she didn't trip.

She glanced tentatively at the woman holding her hand. Almost forcibly dragging the girl whose height can barely pass her underarm on her tippy toes, the woman snapped at her.

"You are lucky we took care of you this far. Now you have to pay your due!"

The girl thought, 'but what could the adults possibly want me to do? I'm too little to hunt or scavenge for food...I've only seen the black and white moon five times...'

"Are we there yet?"

"Shhh-we're getting there."

"Silence, this is a holy place. Are you asking to be cursed?"

The little girl just bowed her head low, her dark hair falling softly by her cheeks.

'I don't understand...Father just passed away this morning...Shouldn't I be beside him and burn his last candle? Why are we out at such a late hour? Where are we going?'

But not wanting to be reproved by the woman's sharp tongue again, she chose to remain quiet and let time reveal what was in store for her.

What must have been just a short time in the woods felt like an entire season for the little girl.

She was the only child of her father. He would've wanted her to burn his last candle so he can find his way to her mother who died in childbirth. What if he gets lost?

The thought of father, who was stiff as a rock but also strong as a rock, being lost in an even blacker darkness caused her to quietly sob.

"Silence! Crying again. We made sure to not give you anything since sunrise, but you still have the galls to cry!"

She bit her lips and pinched her thighs, remembering her father's advice that if she ever feels like crying, she should clench her teeth or pinch her thighs. Then the pain will keep her from showing weakness.

'Father...I can't keep the tears from coming out...I'm sorry,'

But then she saw a trace of a silvery moonbeam glide on the tip of her small, cold foot.

She raised her eyes above her and gasped in wonder. The dense forests were no more, and they were in a clearing where they can look up at the Milky Way.

Yes, they were in a middle of the dense, isolated woods, but for a moment the girl forgot her fears. The sky was so pretty even her father would've smiled.

It was like the leaves of the trees gathering around the starry starry sky in a circle, swaying by a wind like the way she would see the older girls dance.

"The god of the Sun, and the god of the Moon, hear our prayer!"

Her dreams of trees dancing around the dark sky in a circle was harshly interrupted by one of the adults' cry like pelting ice falling on her head.

"We humble ourselves to you. Our tribe was once great! We used to have the biggest huts. We used to own ewes and wild goats. But treacherous enemies caused our downfall, raiding what used to be our glory and pride!"

The girl was getting unsettled by the way the woman's hand tightened around hers, like hawk's claws that squeeze through the fur of a freshly caught baby rabbit.

But what was really scaring her was the histrionic way the usually reserved and aloof adults would scream at nothing.

"We sacrifice this young, untouched girl of noble blood to you for just one request. Please restore us to our past honorable days! Release us from these bonds of impunity and shame!"

And as suddenly as they cried in agony, they clammed their thin lips shut and turned their heels.

The woman's hand slipped from the little girl's, making haste to leave the child in the middle of this clearing in the mountain trees.

The girl's startled eyes looked up at the retreating form of the adults, but she couldn't utter a single word like "wait!" or even "why?"

Even though her life is in danger, likely to be devoured by lurking beasts or freeze or die of hunger, she couldn't act for herself. That surly means she's a hopeless case as she was told her entire life.

Some of the adults were parents of her good friends. Out of naivete, she decided to place her feeble hope on that.

She told herself, 'But they'll come back. they're going to come back.'

She looked up. The sky full of beauty was her only friend.

She spread out her tiny hands toward the sky as if she wanted to hug the sky with her tiny frame.

Her tiny face made a beaming smile toward the night sky that seemed to answer her embrace with brighter light.

The way the woods opened up to the milky way and the moon above allowed her, a tiny intruder of the mountains, to be showered with light.

It was like the cold, damp mountain woods deciding to finally give her a solemn nod to enter. And for her, that was enough. She was happy.

She stood on tippy toes to get even closer. She closed her eyes, imagining that the starlight carried her parents' love to her, from paradise to earth.

'Father, are you watching over me?'

"What are you doing?"

"Ah!"

She blinked her eyes open at the sudden voice, a man's, and quickly covered her mouth and froze in spot.

Before her small frame materialized a man, a very tall man. Maybe even taller than her father. His tall frame was swapped with a long black clothe with its hem barely grazing the grass.

"How...how?"

The girl collapsed as her legs gave away to terror. 'How can a person suddenly...'

How can a person just materialize before her in a blink of an eye? Unless...unless...

Then her eyes caught sight of what the man was holding: a long, slender rod fashioned of silver, dripping with liquid with the texture of mucus and smell of copper.

Even though she was young, she always helped the tribe's ceremonial skinning of their hunt, so she knew what the man has just done. Hunting. But not the kind of hunting her father had done.

"Ah...ah..." the girl's wide pale lavender eyes were revealed by the parting bangs. The tears were making her vision blurry, so she can hardly see the man's face.

Her quivering lips can barely mouth the word, "ghost" or "help."

The man stood still as he studied the little child shivering before him. If he didn't appear so suddenly before her, she might have thought him as a statue.

Then his hand holding the metal rod with a sharp tip like an arrowhead swayed.

Whissh

She reflexively raised her arms before her, squinting her eyes shut.

"Papa..." she wanted him to know that she was coming soon.

Then happened...nothing.

She timidly open one of her eyes and put down her arms and gazed up at the man.

He was turning his back to her, whipping his strange rod off in a dignified sweep. She saw the blood flick off from the blade and sputter against the grass around him in a neat semi circle.

"So...they decided to send a 'mute.'" The man sounded bemused as he walked away from her.

The girl stared at the retreating form.

Her heart leaped to her throat, 'no...no, please don't go!'

But still her cursed mouth cannot say a single word. No wonder he thought she was mute.

So she did what she can do.

Follow him.

Without a word. Hoping that he won't turn around and snap at her to leave him alone.

As quietly as possible.

Hiding behind every tree lest he turns his head.

She trailed behind him, hoping that he would notice her but then hoping that he would permit her to follow him even if it means not talking to her.

But then a gleam of hope flitted across her heart.

He's fast. He's very tall. That magical rod that looks sharper than her father's favorite arrowhead spear. Maybe he's...

But..but what if he's not? What if he's a devil? A monster who turns into handsome men and eat children?

'But...I want to ask...I'll just die asking.' The girl fastened her resolve.

Moving her tongue to speak to this stranger felt as hard as moving a huge rock up on a tip of a mountain.

Her tongue felt very heavy, but she decided to try. If that's the last thing she'll do.

"A-are you...father's spirit?"

The man stopped.

He didn't say anything.

But she couldn't help feeling hope in her heart, fluttering like a fledgling baby bird trying to escape its nest.

"Are..are you?"

He slightly tilted his face, and she can see a flash of light shimmering like a red firefly in his eyes.

"...Father?"

Instead of answering her question, he just re-uttered the word "Father" with nuanced bemusement and stood, looking down at the ridiculously little girl.

Then the moon bathed half of the stranger's face in light.

The girl's eyes widened as they greedily absorbed his face in expectation. But then fear and heartbreak replaced hope.

"You...you're not father..."

"And you're not mute."

He threw off his statement with an air of casual observation as he turned and kept walking.

But the girl still trailed after him.

"Can..can I...?"

"No."

She was actually going to ask him if she can ask him where they were going. Ask him for his permission to ask him, bother him with questions.

The girl was surprised, but not because she felt hurt. Actually, she felt opposite to hurt.

If his voice wasn't so calm and magnetic like waves crushing on the bank, his refusal might have sounded painfully personal.

All her life, she got either slavish flatteries in front of her father or disdainful remarks that were made when father wasn't present.

So she cannot help but like his raspy voice and his tone that sounded bored but at the same time moderate and patient, and he didn't waste his breath on pointing out her weaknesses and obvious flaws like others.

"...What?"

Misunderstanding her silence as childish pouting, the man asked through gritted teeth.

"Ah-ah, where are we going, Sir-Sir?"

The man sighed and talked in a low voice

"If you're going to be a candidate for the Waker's Pearl...you should work on that stuttering."

The girl merely blinked. She noticed the subtle annoyance in the stranger's voice as he asked her."Your folks didn't tell you before abandoning you?"

"Oh...so, I-I am...abandoned,"

She said aloud in a weak voice. A part of her already knew, but the realization did sting a bit.

"Tsk-"

He clucked his tongue as if he just accidentally tripped on a pebble and kept his leisurely pace.

He was so tall, taking wide strides with his long legs as the little girl tried to keep up with by running on her short legs.

"...How old are you?" The man asked.

"I-I saw the black and white moon nine times"

She beamed as if she was proud.

In their days, there was no way to mark time. Only the half black half white moon that rose every termination of an autumnal cycle, spring, summer, fall, and winter, gave them a clue that an year passed.

"...So you're turning ten."

"Ye..yes?"

"Never mind. We're here."

The girl just noticed that they were out of the woods. It was like she woke up from some dark nightmare.

A gust of wind brushed pass her face, making her slightly squint as she pulled her hair behind her ears.

They were at the end of a high cliff, standing on a huge boulder that jutted precariously above the vast mountains.

They were on a high vantage point, overseeing the mountains of varying heights, covered with wispy fog that trailed across the crevices like giant snakes.

Already the pitch black sky was lightening into a misty blue, signaling the coming of a new day.

If it wasn't for the stranger's sturdy presence and calm aura, the girl would've been petrified by standing on such monumental heights.

Even with the absence of the sun, the sky was turning into a baby blue, and suddenly things gained vibrant color in front of the girl's eyes.

It was like the sun rays hitting against the mountains and singing a soft song that woke up the world.

But the majesty of the surroundings paled as soon as her milky white eyes landed on the tall stranger's face.

"...Wow,"

was all she can lamely say as she gazed at the stranger's face.

After looking down at the girl for a moment, he opened his well-formed, sculpted lips, "So here's the test."

"A...test?"

She's confused.

"What's...a test?"

The man sighed a little and shoved his long, pale fingers across his dark, silken strands. He had to remind himself that she just turned ten, which is like being at fourth grade.

"Forget it. Just try to follow me."

"O-okay, sir!...Sir?!"

Then he turned toward her and slowly fell backwards.

While keeping his infuriatingly calm, dark eyes fixed on her, he leaped from the end of the cliff and disappeared into the cloudy fog.

"Sir...sir!"

Despite her fears of heights, the girl ran towards the end of the cliff, and in the process, accidentally tripped on her ankle.

"Eeeepppp!"

As she braced herself for the imminent painful death, she had flashbacks -being pierced by poisonous thistles, dying of heart attack, or crushing into jagged rocks or drowning in the deep waters-which one?

"What are you doing?"

Her little ears recognized that husky voice with its peculiar tone of detachment and slight sarcasm.

She slowly uncovered her face with her tiny hands and managed a tiny peek.

There was the Sir Stranger, looking down at her, his elegant left eyebrow rising in question.

He was...intact. Not bleeding, not drowning not suffocating. And he was standing,

'Wh-what is he standing on?' she now stammered in her thoughts.

And now she just realized it she was also standing on a firm ground. The girl quickly looked down at her feet.

"You'll get used to it. Like others."

He turned and with a whip of his sheathed rod, the clouds in front of him parted.

As he sliced through the clouds as if they were hindrances, the girl can see the pure majesty unfolding before her.

There before them was a lush green meadow. The air smelt of ripe fruit, persimmons, wafting in the air and hitting the girl's senses, and her heart fluttered in a yearning for her favorite season.

But that was impossible. It was late fall!

But the captivating beauty of the land doused her suspicions and instead filled her with awe.

The gorgeous scenery she was transported to reminded her the place she imagined where father and mother would be right now-paradise.

When the man and girl spotted the shimmering horizon of the bountiful landscape, he turned to her.

"Accepted sacrifices to the Wakers are brought here."

"Wh..where are we?"

He didn't say anything for a moment, just staring down at her. She wondered if she didn't raise her voice enough.

"...The 'Realm,'"

Realm...nope, never heard of such place.

"Is...'Realm' a kingdom?"

Curiosity got the better of her as she asked this stranger who continued walking toward the sparkling horizon.

As they approached closer and closer, the girl realized that the sparkling horizon was actually pure white limestone walls with sparkling rooftops made of gilded tiles buttressed by pillars of marble and precious stone.

This place was even better than how she imagined, listening to age old tales.

The tall stranger answered her in his slightly gravelly voice that was strangely good to hear.

Listening to his voice reminded her of rare times her father would let her touch his prickly chin and giggle in excitement.

" There is no government. It's just the two...who rule in balance. The Wakers"

"Ah..."

The man swiftly turned to her. They were a mile away before the monumental structures that marked the entrance to the capital city, the heart of the Realm.

"This is your new home. Forget who you were. Forget your old name."

The girl's eyes widened as she stared at the stranger's mesmerizing face.

"Your only aspiration is to belong to one of the Wakers."

The girl frowned. The stranger was indeed handsome, handsome and beautiful and pretty and strong looking if that makes sense. But he kept saying things she can't understand.

He can clearly see that he confused the little girl, but he stayed silent and his expression revealed nothing. And as always, he turned and kept walking as if nothing passed between them.

His silent way of walking without even glancing back had a strange power to pull her to him like a herd of sheep.

"Do you...know the Waker?"

She asked. But she didn't really expect him to give her a detailed answer.

"...There's the Second Waker. Some call him the Shadow Waker or the Moon Waker...and other names."

She didn't really notice the slight drone as he mentioned "the other names."

'The other names must be pretty too! A king of such a beautiful place can't be terrible!' she thought excitedly.

"Th-then is there a First Waker?"

The way his head shifted told her that he just nodded.

"Ar-are they queen and king?" Now she was feeling more comfortable talking with him.

The man scoffed and her eyes widened. She never expected him, such a withdrawn man to laugh at that point. Did she say something silly?

He erased the dry mirth from his voice quickly and answered, "Far from it."

"Then...friends?" she tentatively suggested.

He was brutally prompt in his reply.

"Barely."


	7. Chapter 7

_Tap Tap tap_

Slender fingers with nails painted ruby red were tapping on the chestnut colored desk in the hokage's office.

Tsunade opened her lips painted in mauve pink lipstick.

"So you're saying..."

Sasuke just stood in front of her desk, his hands gathered behind him.

"You knew you were on probation...for attacking the Hyuugas."

After waiting for an appropriate response, the hokage screamed in her mind, 'If he'll just nod or show a bit of remorse

with that cute little face, I would dismiss him and douse myself in celebratory sake!

But noooo, this cheeky boy doesn't even bother to nod!"

"But...you attacked Neji. In the hospital. That I run."

"Hnn."

Now she didn't know if she preferred to clam his mouth shut or make a cheeky gesture like saying "hnn" or "tssk."

"And you clearly knew...that he is now the clan head of one of the most powerful clans in Allied Villages."

"Well, that didn't stop that rascal before, didn't it Tsunade?" Jiraiya decided to chip in, which earned him a fist pump on the eye

that gave him trouble spying into "inspirations" for his masterpiece that had devoted fans like Hatake Kakashi.

Sasuke's shoulders trembled, the teenage boy in him couldn't find it but funny that the blond hokage just gave the legendary nin

with awesome summoning powers a black eye.

Even the fifty four year old female hokage would have found the boy's smothered laughter charming if it wasn't for the situation.

"This is not funny, Sasuke! Do you know what kind of trouble you put yourself in?"

Sasuke quickly composed himself, but he struggled to hide the smile that kept playing in his mouth so he decided to look at the ground to not further anger the short-tempered hokage.

He pursed his lips together, as his eyelashes that made girls envious and swooning lowered to the floor.

Seeing Sasuke, the hokage couldn't help but note how much this infamous boy, who she wondered as a medic nin to be a sociopath on more than a couple occasions, changed.

And she knows what caused this change. And she hates to be the bringer of these news.

"Sasuke, you broke the probation. And you attacked one of the dual heads...of the same clan you terrorized. This caused other great clans from neighboring villages to voice their concerns."

Meanwhile, Sasuke was replaying his earlier fight with Kidnapper. Well, it was not really a fight because Kidnapper did something

he never expected her to do.

She got mad.

 _"...So you're just going to tune me out."_

 _"..."_

 _She resolutely kept turning her back to him, crossing her arms as she sat upright on the hospital mattress._

 _Even the prideful genius lone wolf orphan boy had hard time maintaining his guise of cool and disinterest_

 _when his Kidnapper decided to be a stone Buddha for thirty five minutes._

 _She has been acting like that since he swore revenge to not only the current heads of the Hyuuga, who are 'Attitude with long hair' and his short cousin, but also the entire clan._

 _And she was still going strong._

 _Now he can't help but feel a bit nervous. She's never done that for the entire year they were together._

 _He never imagined her to be this stubborn._

 _"Hinata..."_

 _She flinched a little as he called her first name, something he only started to do after he and Team 7 rescued her._

 _Sasuke kept staring holes at the back of her head, but she kept facing the window next to her bed._

 _He sighed and mussed his dark, disorderly hair._

 _"...Okay. I won't."_

 _He saw her shoulders stiffen and slowly her arms unwinded themselves. But she still refused to turn around and be her usual warm, forgiving self._

 _"Tsk-"_

 _Seeing that she just won't stop being mad at him, he finally turned around and headed to the door in frustration._

 _However as soon as his fingertips touched the doorknob, he heard her soft voice._

 _"...Sasuke."_

 _His fingers flinched from touching the doorknob as if it was on fire._

" _Please...do-do not set your heart in revenge..."_

 _Her voice held a soft, shaky timbre. There was just something different about the way she asked him to do something this time._

 _'Promise me..."_

 _Something that was deeply emotional and gut wrenching in a strange way._

 _After a pause that felt like eternity, he finally relented. "Fine."_

 _He heard a gasp that expressed relief and tearful joy._

 _"Sasuke, I'll make onigiri (rice balls) tonight for dinner and also add slices of fresh tomato as a side dish!"_

 _"Hn. Whatever."_

"Sasuke!"

His attention shifted back to Tsunade who looked like she was about to throw a fit and turn over her heavy duty desk.

He realized that he had been zoning out on people a lot lately...He wondered why.

Maybe teenage hormones or his case of apathy got worse?

Tsunade sighed and massaged the side of her forehead,

"The neighboring countries that surround our Land of Fire are demanding us to prove that you are not a threat.

The Land of Lightning is especially upset because of the violence you inflicted without restraint."

Her light brown eyes stared straight into Sasuke's expressionless face.

"They want you to be incarcerated."

 _Thud_

Jiraiya accidentally dropped his tipped felt pen he used to draw Tsunade's physical assets.

"But after much discussion, we finally made a deal."

Sasuke's furrowed brows told her that he knew that this new 'deal' was not going to be anything pleasant.

And he was right.

"Sasuke, you are to leave this village and travel across the Five Great Shinobi nations."

He remained silent and immobile, but the hokage noted the shock registered in the teenager's dark eyes.

'You are to be exiled from Konoha unless you bring proof that you successfully carried out each daimyo's mission."

She casually flopped open a roll of paper, a scroll that was so lengthy that the end reached the door to the hokage office.

Sasuke tightened his fist in a painful squeeze.

"So don't think about coming back unless you completed all these things. If you do..."

The next statement almost got Sasuke to brashly charge against the the most feared and respected kunoichi and medic nin in all countries.

"We'll have to make your legal guardian pay for your transgression. And not in money."

"What is with everyone thinking that they can get to me through _her?"_ He said with thinly veiled disgust.

Tsunade's light brown eyes that evoked those of a mountain tigress twinkled.

"We'll give you about three days to pack your stuff and part with your loved ones."

Suddenly feeling exposed, Sasuke grunted and dismissed himself from her office, without forgetting to throw her a hostile glare.

 _SLAMM_

 _"_ Ahh!"

Jiraiya screamed as the sound of slamming doors caused him to smear his poetry about Tsunade with a huge swipe of ink.

Laying her round face on her soft white knuckles, Tsunade smirked and closed her eyes, "Boys."

* * *

Now a question plagued the hero of our story.

How is he going to break the news to his abductor and legal guardian who can make the best poached tomatoes but also make him look like one, both with an innocently serious face.

Unfortunately fifteen year old Sasuke had a hard time focusing on how to 'gently' inform the only female figure in his life, as he walked between his adoring fans who bombarded him with endless questions.

"Sasuke kun, is it true that you might never come back?"

"Our fan club heard that the mission will probably take at least three years for even a genin!"

"That's not true right? You will come back in a year right?"

"Is it true that you...you might die? Don't die, Sasuke kun!"

"My dad is one of the Konoha's council! Maybe he can boot you out!"

Amidst this commotion, all he can think is, 'If the Anbu can gather intelligence as fast as these girls can, there will never be another Shinobi War and Konoha will be invincible.'

But when he actually revealed the ultimatum given by the Five Great Shinobi Nations to Hinata, he could have never expected her to react in the way she did.

All the while as she listened to Sasuke's story, she didn't say anything and her expression didn't betray any emotions.

She was sitting on the hospital bed as he sat on the chair next to it. Her posture was upright and straight like a needle while Sasuke's back was hunched over as he waited for her to chakra palm him, faint, or maybe even cry.

He was bracing for the worst. And he was actually going to take it like a man, without a word of protest.

'But why is she so calm?'

Then finally after staring at him with eyes that resembled Iron-age mirrors, she opened her mouth.

"Then it means it will take only about two to three years!

Her opal colored eyes narrowed like double crescent moons as she smiled.

"Huh?"

"Sasuke, this is not bad at all!"

She looked like she just misheard the "on average five year long series of A level missions that have death hazards for even certified jounins" as "a picture perfect two month summer camp for Boy Scouts."

Sasuke stared with his mouth open as Hinata kept on perusing the content of Tsunade's letter.

"I would've been concerned if it was just you, but you'll be in Kakashi sensei's company. It must feel like old days,"

He wondered if she was just trying to make the situation less dismal looking by being extra cheerful and bubbly. But for all her calmness, she is pretty bad at hiding her fears and discomfort.

She honestly looked relieved and carefree.

"He's a wonderful teacher to volunteer guiding you through these missions. You'll learn a lot from those years!"

Seemingly oblivious of Sasuke's clenched fist, Hinata went on to talk about the potential benefits of this penalty.

"It also says here that Jiraiya sensei shall accompany Naruto as he goes on his own trip."

He remembered, 'Oh yeah, the dobe is considered a threat too. Well, a lesser threat, but the daimyos still felt the need for the dobe to show "sincere repentance" for destroying the Hyuuga palace.'

"When are you planning to leave, Sasuke? I would like to thank Kakashi sensei fo-"

He quietly rose from his seat and left Hinata who passively stared at him with her light lavender eyes.

She didn't take her eyes away from the boy as he opened the door, kicked it open, and exited the hospital room.

After she was sure he left the premises, she sighed and looked down at the letter that was already crumpled before Sasuke handed it to her.

She was staring down at the crumpled letter, then she said quietly, "Sensei, thank you for letting me know in advance."

A soft wind ushered in from the wide window stills as a tall, grey haired man entered the private suite.

Hinata thought she saw some down feathers coming in, but she must have been mistaken.

Anyone would have jumped at the sight of a spiky haired man peeling his tall, long limbed body from the shadows of the trees surrounding the hospital

appearing next to the woman who was sitting on the hospital bed.

"I...would've not known...what to do."

She finally let her pale lavender eyes show her inner turmoil as the tall grey haired shinobi stood on the wall beside her.

"Umm, you made it look quite convincing, Hinata san. Anyone would've thought you were happy to get rid of Sasuke."

When she didn't say anything but instead stared down at the paper, he rested his titled head on his right hand and studied the young woman's profile.

"Was I...unnecessarily cold?" She asked.

"Well, nobody could fault you on...wanting a vacation."

Kakashi actually meant it to be a sympathetic joke, but she looked too lost in her thoughts to find it funny.

"Yeah, you were...a little bit."

When he admitted, she bowed her head deep as if she was depressed.

Resting his chin on the palm of his hand, he studied her leisurely like some interesting phenomenon.

"Kakashi sensei..."

"Hmm?"

"I kept thinking...about what you meant...When you said that Sasuke's happiness might be closer than I think."

Kakashi just nodded, keeping his eye pinned on her.

"I...think I understand what you might mean...But," after a nervous pause, she continued, "I think that kind of relationship would just be...inappropriate."

A soft breeze that carried the chill of coming winter blew by.

Kakashi finally voiced his mind.

"I expected you to be quite conservative, but you actually have quite a wild imagination, Hinata san."

" Ex...excuse me?!"

"Do you happen to be a fan of Icha Icha too?"

"Ah...ah..."

"Just kidding."

Hinata sighed. "Kakashi sensei, please..." She was just not in a mood to banter.

"But in all seriousness, Hinata san. If you're acting cold to Sasuke on purpose, I can understand."

"Ka..Kakashi sensei!"

She raised her voice an octave a bit too high, but Kakashi remained unfazed.

She stared at the calm shinobi with mortified eyes, but then turned her eyes quickly away.

"Sensei...Sasuke has...been acting unusual these days. I wanted to think it was just him being at that age...But..."

She closed her eyes as if she was having hard time forming words.

After some silence, Kakashi said casually, "Everyone has gone through that awkward stage. Was there something that irked you in particular?"

She looked like she wanted to tell him desperately, but she finally decided against it.

"I-I'm sorry. I appreciate your concern as Sasuke's teacher, but...it's a bit private and I don't want you to misunderstand Sasuke. He's a...good boy...just a little confused."

'Very sexually confused.' Kakashi wanted to clarify.

"I think it's best that he stops being...'mothered,' as you can say, and use this journey as an opportunity to focus on his nin-do."

'Just like Oedipus. And we all know how that ended.' His hentai mind going overboard. Good thing he had his mask to cover his silly grin.

He nodded, morphing into the perfect educator, "It does seem some distance can help Sasuke with his mid-teenage life crisis."

He was tempted to add, "the mid-teenage life crisis also known as a crush on a older woman,' but he decided to not give the poor woman a heart attack by being too blunt.

"I..I can't blame you if you think of me as cruel...But lately, I've been thinking that...I shouldn't...how to say it...I shouldn't...le-lead him on..."

She blushed a deep red and tried to contain her stuttering.

"I-I just want to be like a surrogate older sister to Sasuke. Nothing more...nothing less."

She licked her bottom lip quickly.

"Even if...it means being cold to Sasuke...I just don't want anything to get complicated."

"Hinata san," the older, more experienced man crossed his arms and looked down at the eighteen year old girl.

"It's a three years difference. Three years. Not thirty. When Sasuke turns into a legal age, age won't be an issue. You're pretty inefficient in making excuses."

Her eyes widened as she looked up at Kakashi who brushed himself up as he approached her bed.

"Why can't you admit that you are scared? You know that you can just reject him and move on right?"

"Please...don't assume things. It's not as...simple"

"Maybe it's not clear cut and simple because you're confused too, Hinata san."

"Kakashi sensei, this is too much!"

She clenched both of her fists, her usually calm pearl white eyes holding fire like limestones under the desert sun.

Kakashi then bent his face over her, close enough so the tips of their noses were almost touching.

"Then tell me at my face. That you're too scared to admit your feelings but too weak hearted to reject him. So you're actually relieved that he can just leave."

She stared hard at his face.

He can see that he had struck a pretty sensitive part. She looked like she was going to challenge him on a dual. Which he wouldn't mind. He's getting curious about the extant of her strength anyway.

But what she said was beyond his expectation. The expectation of a logical, rational minded ninja who doesn't hesitate from speaking his mind when needed.

"I...I don't deserve such affections...from anybody, most of all not him."

She quickly turned her face away from his penetrating gaze.

"I...I stole someone's dreams. Something he worked all his life for. So...I need to make up. Pay my dues."

He kept staring at Hinata, listening. She continued.

"I will do anything for Sasuke's happiness...And the last person he should be with is..."

Suddenly she gave her eyes a hard swipe of her back hand. Then she peeled her hand from her squinting eyes amd stared hard at the tall roguishly good looking ninja who is probably at least four years older than her.

"So please don't assume...things..."

For the first time, he was lost in words.

"Kakashi sensei, I will die if it means Sasuke can have a normal mortal life. He..deserves one. A chance."

Then he saw her hold up her sword, the Kusanagi, the root of all this drama. It must have been by her side all this time. But its' devious ability to camouflage as just any daily weapon allowed Kusanagi to evade Kakashi's expert gaze.

"If I was going to stop pursuing my goal at this point, I wouldn't have gone this far."

She stared down at the sword that looked like any normal katana.

"So if that means I have to be..."

She paused. Then she kept saying what was in her heart. She stroked the sword, thrumming her fingers over it like playing a samisen.

"If it means I have to be...heartless, then I will be as heartless as possible."

"Ouch."

"Please...I depend on you, Sensei."

She raised her head to look at him with pleading eyes.

Unluckily for her, Kakashi hated bearing responsibilities.

"Then Hinata san, can I ask a favor?"

He inched closer to her.

"I want you to give me something."

Her eyes widened.

"By something...would you like some ointments?"

Her homemade herbal ointments are receiving some favorable reviews from the town. Maybe Kakashi wanted some?

"No...I would like you to give me..."

He approached her close enough to whisper in her ear.

"Something that is on your body the whole time."

* * *

As soon as he came home which strangely didn't feel like home, he threw himself into a cold shower, being under water for twenty minutes and washing his hair for two seconds (he's a fifteen year old boy, come on) and brushed and flossed for twelve minutes (it surprised Kidnapper at first to see that he's actually very meticulous about dental health).

Around 10 p.m, Sasuke was just relieved to finally rest his tired, sore body as he threw himself face flat on his navy blue mattress.

He knew he would sound like an asshole, but in all honestly, dealing with the crying and moaning village girls-civilians and ninjas, was far, far more exhausting than sparring all night with Kidnapper in her worst mood.

And he sees a completely different alter ego of Lady Hinata, once a month. Face it, he's living with an eighteen year old girl, not a living saint as everyone presume.

He thought about how she would be completely upset over a fall of a hat, get lost in her way to her part time work to tend her neighbors' garden,

forget to turn off the bathroom lights and blame herself for dying trees and leave the stove and burn the soup to the bottom,

and leave him hanging by suddenly zoning off into whispered chit chats with her sword Kusanagi who is her designated friend when she's meeting "Aunt Suzy."

She would sob, holding the sheathed sword close to her face, "I can do nothing right! And people think too highly of me! And I don't want to disappoint them. But then I'm not " bla bla bla

When she does that, he would have a sour expression on his face, holding a chamomile infused tea in his one hand and a bag of 30% cacao containing milk chocolate balls.

"Sasuke, you think I'm terrible to live with, don't you?" she would suddenly speak up to him while sipping the tea he brought her, looking depressed and forlorn.

When she does that, he'll sigh and turn around and put on his most genuine looking, disarming smile that would melt the opposite gender, and sometimes the same sex, into putty.

"Kidnapper...what are you talking about?" he would inch toward her and place his strong pale hand on her shoulder,

And then with a straight, unimpressed face,

"I never agreed to living with you since the beginning,"

Snap-

And that is the night he would have to spar with her till he sees dawn, with his stomach full of frosted pound cake. And saccharine honey lemonade.

But she would always look at least little better after that. He would a hundred times see her incensed at him and pouting in resentment than sad and dejected and self-loathing.

As he was musing over the various faces of Kidnapper, it occurred to him that he won't have to deal with that for the next two years or so.

'Well, at least I don't have to deal with that,' he thought as he drifted into sleep.

In his dream, Kidnapper was by his bedside.

'It's a dream,' he already knew.

He had these dreams a lot these days to already know how it'll go. And he feared that the dreams were interfering in his real life with the real Kidnapper.

As he held a strand of her dark hair between his fingers, she shifted closer to him and buried herself into his arms. In real life, he was tall and big enough to hold her if she crawls into his arms on her knees, an act that the real Kidnapper never did.

To him, she was an ice flower that bloomed in the most remote regions, pure and taunting in its unattainability.

"Are you okay with not seeing me for at least two years?"

He broke the silence as he asked the woman he knew was simply a fabrication of his psyche, not the real one.

The Hinata in his dream smiled, her eyes narrowing like silver eyes of a lean cat, "But didn't it always displeasure you to live with me?"

When he didn't say anything, his large obsidian black eyes boring into her, Hinata giggled, "What about when I have those monthly tantrums? Aren't you annoyed?"

They looked into each other's eyes for a long pause.

"...No,"

He answered.

He knew this was all just an illusion interwoven by his slumbering mind, so he uses this moment to say whatever was lying dormant in his chest. Or else, he was sure he'll go insane in front of the real Hinata.

"In fact...I feel the opposite of annoyed."

"You're happy that I meet Aunt Suzy?" she pouted,

He didn't laugh. Instead he stroke the back of her head, "It's a side of you that nobody knows. Except me."

As she continued staring at him owlishly, he thought that he just had to get it off his chest.

"You...always try to look so fucking perfect all the time...So when you throw a fit...over a zit or whatnot...it only shows that you're after all human..."

The girl smiled and pushed him flat on his back on the mattress, towering over him.

His face remained unchanged as he stared up at her. Looking at her eyes felt like looking into the Milky Way in a clear autumn night.

"It's...cute." He concluded lamely.

At his words, she cuddled closer to his chest.

And that is when he would wake up.

He sighed as he stared into his bedroom ceiling.

He knew that he had to leave...Now.

* * *

"Sasuke kun, but I love you more than anything!"

His body went frigid at her words and then he forced himself to relax a bit.

It was early in dawn, the sky still looking as dark as the middle of the night. He rose and left the Konoha walls as soon as he made up his mind to leave.

How in the world did Sakura find out about his spontaneous departure?

He turned to Sakura who had tears flowing from her unique emerald eyes that would have hold any other guy captive with their luster and brilliance.

Objectively speaking, Sakura was a physically lovely girl, and anyone who isn't blind could clearly see that she'll grow to be a real beauty.

"Sakura..."

His voice was the most attractive blend of undisguised boyishness and velvety masculinity.

He approached her close enough so only she can. hear.

"I need you..."

Her breath hitched to her throat in hope.

"Sasuke kun..." Did the gods finally answer her prayer?

"to stay here..."

Her radiant face turned crestfallen in a second.

"Look after her while I'm gone."

And he knew that she knew whom he meant by "her."

He added, "please..."

But that only served to make her feel miserable, just miserable.

She tried to feed her hopes. Hinata is like family, no she is his family. Of course he would be worried. But this is just too cruel.

As he turned, he heard her voice crippling in its sadness but also venom of a heartbroken soul.

"I will...but!"

He turned slightly toward her.

"But only if you kiss me, Sasuke kun."

* * *

After seeing Sakura run out in a dash from her hospital room, Hinata followed her, still in her light blue patient uniform.

Sakura was kind and strong enough to check in Hinata's state after spending hours and hours in the medical laboratory, finishing off her experiment.

So to have Sakura run off in the middle of checking on her health meant only one thing: Sasuke.

A pang of envy stabbed her chest, 'If only i can feel Sasuke's chakra like Sakura...' but she knew she couldn't.

The Waker's Pearl can never feel the Waker's chakra, original or reincarnated it doesn't matter. This is to ensure that the Waker will always assume superiority and that the Waker's Pearl understands her eternal subordinate state to her master.

As she finally saw the pink haired girl confronting the tall boy, she stopped.

"Sasu.." she tried to raise her voice but she couldn't finish because of what she just saw.

From several feet away, she hid herself behind the tree.

Sasuke approached the blushing pink haired beauty, bent down a little to bridge the gap between their heights, and gently placed his lips on her forehead.

Her heart seemed to stop at the instant she witnessed that kiss.

Time seemed to stop for her. Then slowly as if kusanagi was digging its keen edge against her chest, she felt a deep, stabbing pain like no other.

She hurriedly turn and as she left, she felt tears coming up to her eyes,

She berated herself mentally. 'Of course, of course, he'll fall for her. It's so obvious. It was never meant to be...! It never was and never will!'

Her choked whispers came out as she struggled for air, "I'm a fool. Such a fool!"

She believed that night she was punished for ever harboring even a glimmer of hope that she might have a chance at the young boy's heart.

She should've never listened to Kakashi sensei's words!

Now she knew. That she should never even expect such feelings from Sasuke just because he was...that he used to be...

"Sovereign...my sovereign..."

But her sovereign was gone. Never to return again. He left her and her world...a long long time ago.

That night she vowed to never hope for the impossible ever again. She was going to focus on her one true goal and duty-to give Sasuke the good life, maybe not a majestic or grandiose lifestyle but still a good, happy, love-filled life that knows no lack.

* * *

A month later, Kakashi had tracked down Sasuke and made him an offer he can never refuse.

"She gave you...what?"

Fury and disbelief made his voice to uncharacteristically crack as he faced his opponent with eyes that intermittently flared like red flashlights.

The silver haired copy nin and Sasuke faced each other, each fighter's fingers unfurled as their palms churn out blue lightning.

Underneath the dark fabric that serves as a mask that conceals most of his face, he said in a soft, whimsical voice that provoked the boy's ire.

"I smell it every time...I read Icha Icha."

The boy charged toward the man with fury blazing as wildly as the electric currents spiking from his left hand.

"AHHHHH/!"

* * *

2 years later

"These are not stainless iron! Are you fucking kidding me?"

The tall kunoichi with side buns on each of her hair, accented with green jade flower pins, slammed her fists against the weapon merchants' booth.

"Hey, Tenten, I know this sucks but you have to see that we don't got it any easy, you know huh?"

The weapon merchant who is also a great personal friend to Tenten groaned in despair.

"We're all having hard time acquiring decent weapons. My trade partner hasn't got here in a week. And that is happening to other folks. Their trade contractors just ghosted out on them."

"This is madness!"

His wife came up and placed her reassuring hands on her husband's shoulders.

"Ever since some mercenaries and soldiers blocked our trade routes...we won't be able to put food on the table for our kids if it goes on like this."

Tenten's soft brown eyes widened in shock and agony.

"What is happening...?"

* * *

Meanwhile in the hokage's office, a group of teenage ninjas saluted Tsunade and went on to voice the pressing issues of Konoha.

"Hokage sama, please tell us what is going on!"

After maintaining her silence, she finally lifted her face from her hands and spoke up.

"Some daimyos from other countries invaded the Land of Fire and launched an economic blockade against Konoha."

A hushed silence permeated as the teenage ninjas stared at her face.

Unwarranted invaders from outlaws, they can fight. But a military-supported trade blockade? And the other villages of Land of Fire granted these intruders access? How dare they? This was betrayal!

"All trade routes to Konoha have been blocked, so the civilians have no way to make money or get food."

Now Tenten felt awful for losing her temper in the marketplace.

Tsunade nodded.

"We sent our most capable ninjas out on the frontline, but it is taking time to salvage our routes and rescue the civilians merchants from the enemies."

Shikamaru who has been quiet the whole time asked. "What are their demands?

The teenage ninjas might have been mistaken, but they think the most famed kunoichi in the world who rivals sennins in power and wisdom just flinched.

Tsunade shifted her eyes from the eager young shinobis and started sweating beads. Her fingers interlaced in front of her, serving as a weak barrier against their inquisitive gaze.

"So...the daimyos of the enemy forces...are demanding a private conference with...one of the Konohans..."

They waited in anticipation of Tsunade to disclose further information. What is taking her so long, by the way?

"They," fuck it, she's just gonna blurt it out, "They want to meet Hinata san."

It felt as if the time froze, and the once colorful environment turned black and white and bleak at this revelation.

"You can't mean...Hinata sama?" Neji dumbly repeated what she just said and turned pale.

Tenten feared that he was going to stumble backwards and pass out.

It was a very rare sight indeed to see Tsunade this embarrassed.

"They...claim that the rumors of her power and beauty caught their attention...and the daimyo who came up with this stupid idea said he won't withdraw his forces until they...get to meet her."

Tsunade then flipped open her file and continued.

"They...claim that she must be...the legendary Waker's Pearl."

"What's the Waker's Pearl?"

"There's an ancient legend that a celestial maiden was banished to the mortal lands as punishment and is sealed in a spherical gemstone, waiting for her master."

"After the court case with the Hyuugas, the neighboring countries became quickly interested in the young woman who changed the power dynamics of the most prestigious clan in Konoha overnight. And the fact that nobody can verify where she came from."

Sakura thought, 'The Waker's Pearl...for some reason, it sounds familiar.'

"Can...we see this picture of this diamyo?"

If they are going to protect their Helen of Troy, they better get a good look at who the fuck is Agamemnon.

"...Wow."

"Hot."

"Pshhhhh"

"He is quite the womanizer, they say," Tsunade said wryly.

"...with that face?"

"How tall is he?"

Shikamaru took a look at the document. "His profile says...5ft 6."

"Fuck me," droned Kiba who was 5ft 7.

They looked like they wanted to gauge their eyes out.

"He owns one of the largest harems in the Great Shinobi Nations."

"Wow, then that means...that he wants Hinata san to be..."

"One of his...concubines. If she's lucky, she can be one of his 'consorts,' just a level lower than the title of 'wife.'"

"Ewwww!"

"That's...so wrong in many levels!"

"Not to mention that if Sasuke ever finds out, he'll chew our heads off."

"So...it's a blind date...""A forced blind date. But we'll do everything in our power so Hinata san doesn't have to go through such distasteful ordeal."

* * *

"I-I'll go."

"No, Hinata sama!"

Neji, now seventeen years old and considered one of the hottest and most promising men in the village, raised his voice.

Neji, Shikamaru, Kiba, and Sakura were all gathered around the dining table, a glass of iced matcha that Hinata herself brew in front of each guest to the Uchiha mansion.

It has been two years since Sasuke and Naruto left Konoha, and the boys have all grew as if their growth spurt took a Olympian gold medalist leap over the electricity poles.

Sakura has blossomed into the most beautiful kunoichi of the village, only to be rivaled by Ino who has one of the beauty pageant in the entire Land of Fire.

"Hinata-chan, that daimyo will probably not just let you go after that cup of tea!"

Meanwhile Hinata just looked the same. She actually looked the youngest of them all.

At Kiba's insinuations of what the daimyos would be planning for her, her face turned a little pale, but she shook her head and strengthened her resolve.

She held both of her fists tightly to her chest, "I-I can't let the Konohan people suffer because of me! A..a blind date...It's a small price...if it means the merchants can return home."

"Hinata..." Sakura placed a warm hand on her arm. She can tell that Hinata was actually deeply dreading the idea of even meeting these self-entitled noblemen who hide their lowly nature-filthy lust with wealth and status.

"I-I'll meet him...and," she placed her hand over Sakura's, "and I'll try to talk with him."

Shikamaru sighed at her naivete, placing his palm on his forehead, "I appreciate you being so cooperative, but we probably will have to come up with another strategy than just 'talking.'"

Neji furrowed his brows. "What does that mean, Shikamaru?"

If that means Hinata has to be given up to those 'creatures' like some virgin lamb on an altar, he'll fight till his death.

"If they can be talked into sense, they wouldn't do something like a collateral trade blockade and try to starve an entire village till we cough you up."

"Then does that mean..." her pale lavender eyes widened in consternation. She didn't want this to turn into a conflict, worse a war.

Understanding what she was fearing, Shikamaru crossed his arms, "We don't need to resort to that. Thankfully, there is one land that is neutral, and that is where we're going to set up our plan."

Sakura asked, "Where is that place?"

"Suna."

He unfurled a long paper map that showed the Five Great Nations and the other countries scattered about. He took out some tiny flags that mark each country's ninja infantry.

"This is where we're gonna see the daimyo."

* * *

The merchants who were heading to Konoha were captured and placed in concentration camps that were built right outside of the Konohan walls.

The invaders took over Gaara and placed him and his siblings in prison and took over Suna as the proper place to greet their lady.

The daimyos had photographic detail perfection descriptions and montage of Hinata as the Waker's Pearl.

The mercenaries even had it confirmed that Hinata was not some other ninja in transformation jutsu before letting her and Shikamaru pass their heavily barricaded forces.

The daimyos just couldn't help but get excited to meet her. They are after all her Number 1 Fans.

And they couldn't have done it without one very special helper.

Now who is that helper?

...Review and I might tell you! Naha!


	8. Chapter 8

The daimyos of the Five Great Shinobi Nations themselves or their chosen warriors can fight for the chance to have a face to face meeting with the Waker's Pearl and claim her as his.

Despite Hinata's efforts, she and Shikamaru cannot find out the one who has set this entire thing up to mobilize this international effort to capture the Waker's Pearl.

Shikamaru sends a message to Naruto, asking for help. The plan is to have Naruto fight as the warrior for the Land of Fire and rescue Hinata and Shikamaru from Suna.

Tsunade personally went all the way to the Land of Fire Daimyo's office and threatened him to safely return Naruto, Shikamaru, and of course, Hinata back to Konoha village after Naruto wins.

"Or else..." _Kracwk!_ And there went the fire daimyo's office wall.

But then someone interfered in this communication. Who can that be? Dun dun dunn

* * *

"In...incredible,"

The daimyo of the Land of Water, codename Agamemnon, shivered in awe. The blood splattered across the arena attests to the mysterious, young nin's unparalleled prowess. No words can do justice to the nin's deadly skill look that bordered on being an artistic accomplishment.

Brute strength, flexible and unlimited excellence in jutsu of all types were taken for granted, but what truly impressed the on viewers was the young nin's ability to trespass space and time and his jaw-dropping efficiency and lack of qualms about taking another's life.

Plus, blessed good looks. He's sure a lady killer...literally.

Agamemnon was sure that the man, despite his young age, would be the perfect warrior for the Waker's Pearl tournament.

"You...you're hired!"

But he cannot see even a hint of glee or even prideful smirk in the young nin's eyes. Maybe he should change his tactics? He cannot afford missing out on such talented ninja.

"A-ask for anything! What do you want? Gold? Land?"

"Women?"

The Land of Water is best known for its best spa resorts and beauties with petal-soft skin in the entire Ninja universe.

He could give this young nin life-long access to first grade sake, onsen bathes with naked women, massage, and other 'benefits.'

But instead of a kowtow bow of gratitude as he expected, he saw the end of the young nin's lips rise in a sardonic gesture.

"I don't want anything. Just take me to the next level."

That young brat dared to publicly embarrass him with his blunt refusal! But he couldn't rebuke him because of the tacit threat of unspeakable harm lest he irritates this arrogant ninja.

'He probably is one of those psychopaths who get off on murder,' he thought as he glared daggers at his retreating back.

"Oh," the young nin glanced back, much to the daimyo's horror, "and I want a fresh robe. Black. Covered head to toe. Let nobody see my face."

* * *

It was finally the day of the tournament in the Village of Suna.

Truly the state-of-the-art architecture of this arena provided the best space for the aristocrats to enjoy this violent tournament in the good name of sport.

The giant arena had a transparent glass ceiling coated with special minerals that protect the competitors and spectators from the harmful rays of Suna's sun.

At Hinata's request, the only spectators were the daimyos of the Five Great Shinobi Nations, their close advisors, and bodyguards. She attributed this odd request to her shyness, which the daimyos found endearing.

The daimyo of the Land of Snow found it a bit suspicious when she wanted to invite the imprisoned candidate for the Kazekage of Suna.

To which she replied, under Shikamaru's instruction, "It would be a waste of opportunity if the man named Gaara and his siblings don't see your greatness, my lords. The tournament would be a great chance to teach them their place."

And thus, the daimyos ordered Gaara, his elder sister Temari, and his brother Kankuro to be chained in the spectator seats that were at the way opposite side of the daimyos.

'Temari...' Seeing the strong, haughty kunoichi chained up and clearly exhausted made Hinata look at Shikamaru in concern.

As her chaperone, Shikamaru was allowed to stand behind Hinata although he wasn't allowed to sit like the daimyos.

She knew of the pony tailed teenage nin's romantic affections for Temari, and she prayed that he won't lose his composure.

Because of the lack of spectators, all one can see is spiraling rows and rows of empty seats in this grand-scale arena.

"I despise crowds anyway. Wouldn't it be more enjoyable to hear the losers' cries echoing in this arena, Hinata sama?"

The daimyo of the Land of Water who sat at her left smiled at her. His lecherous eyes on his dumpling like face made her nervous.

The truth was she was hoping to catch a glimpse of anyone who might have possibly leaked her information.

Maybe someone from the past other than Kabuto came to find her or Sasuke or even Naruto.

Then she suddenly remembered a woman with blazing blood red hair.

'Why am I thinking of...' she frowned.

The thought of the monsters from her past in the Realm coming to haunt her made her tug on her flowy light green silk sleeve.

"Hinata-sama, are you alright?" The daimyo of the Land of Lightning who was sitting at her right asked with concern.

Her thoughts interrupted by the daimyo, Hinata blushed and fumbled with her sleeves.

"Oh, excuse me, I must have swallowed some sand!" She made a feeble excuse for her sour expression and hurriedly put on her veil.

Her diaphanous light green veil concealed the rest of her face, with the exception of her clear lipid eyes that shone like opals.

She for a moment forgot that she was sitting with the daimyos, who of course chosen the front row of spectator seats.

She was wearing a long thick mantle cloak that would protect her provocative dress from the blowing sand and probably blood.

'In the letter, I asked Naruto kun to not take his competitors' lives, if possible. They are after all victims to Shikamaru's ploy to weaken the daimyos' power. They shouldn't have to die because of me.'

She thought as her eyes looked worriedly into the vast expanse of the arena. The arena was filled with sand, so it can soak up the competitors' blood

 _Bang-bang-bang-_

Then one of the Sunanese nins banged the large bronze gong that had the engraved symbol of the Kazekage.

Even though her body slung forward, only to be held back by chains, Temari shot a glare at the veiled woman, the so-called Waker's Pearl who is the cause of this disgraceful invasion.

'If it wasn't for that bitch... this wouldn't have happened," she whispered. Her other brother Kankuro didn't even seem to have the strength to nod in agreement.

Meanwhile, Gaara didn't show any emotions. The daimyos cheered loudly as the Medieval European style gates of the arena walls started opening.

The Sunanese nins slowly opened the gates by pulling on the chains, and the wooden gates dropped to the sand-filled floor of the arena with a huge boom.

The yellow cloud of sand that rose from the ground made only the silhouette of the blood thirsty warriors visible.

"Aaaaahhhhhh!"

Before the wafting sand even had time to clear out, the competitors started drawing blood from one another with ferocity.

* * *

As Shikamaru expected, it was a mighty good luck that Hinata can rely on her Byakugan to see where Naruto was amongst this bloody chaos.

All the competitors covered their face with heavy duty masks that can protect their eyes and nostrils from the stinging sand.

Showing emotions like fear or frustration could easily lead to a tragic outcome. In the arena, every competitor is more than happy to seize even the slightest chance to slice through his opponent's body.

Some of them even had their entire bodies covered with light titanium armor plates and black suits to hide the stiffening of their muscles.

However, the competitors' effort to at least go to the final round, a deadly duel between two, was futile at its best.

"Woaah?!"

Surrounded by scattered bodies of his defeated opponents, a lone nin stood in the middle of the arena.

The daimyos couldn't stop themselves from standing up in shock as they saw their chosen warriors' bodies sprawled across the golden sand.

It took them a full five days and nights to select their most capable competitors. AND they also had to do mundane, less exciting jobs like staging this arena, staffing, and hiding the real purpose of this tournament (getting a sexy new slave).

Judging by the nin's looks, which was 99% covered in black, he was tall and well proportioned, rather on the lean size compared to his buff and brawn victims, but there was no doubt that it must be all steely muscle.

Only Hinata remained seated, her veil concealing most part of her features.

But her effort to look calm couldn't keep her from staring at the hero of the tournament with sparkling light purple-white eyes.

'Naruto kun!' she almost cried out of joy but she quickly bit her lips. She was glad her veil covered the mouthing of her lips.

She can't see the winner's chakra at all! Point blank! Nothing! Just the exterior of the winner's body.

'Naruto received Shikamaru kun's message and made it in time! Shikamaru kun was frustrated by the lack of reply, but it was good that we stuck to his plan. Now we can free Temari san!'

Hinata finally breathed a sigh of relief. Her veil slightly fluttered.

She waved at him in excitement. To the outsiders, she was just waving a shy but friendly hi to the victor.

But the victor who stood tall under the Sunanese sun merely stared at the woman.

The dark cloth that he used to wrap his face made it hard to read his emotions. But judging from the way he carried himself, he wasn't too hyped or excited about his triumph.

'How unlike Naruto kun,' Embarrassed by his lack of response, Hinata put down her hand.

'Maybe he didn't recognize me with this veil and clothes?'

Glancing left and right, Hinata checked if any of the daimyos were looking at her.

No, they were too mentally frazzled by this abrupt outcome of the tournament to pay her any attention. Good.

She slowly took off her veil and as secretly as possible, smiled at the tournament's campion.

It was not a coy smile or a seductive, smoldering smile. It was a wide, sunshiny grin, showing her pearly whites like a little girl.

For a moment, the masked nin seemed to stare back but he then turned his face away in disinterest and looked at the daimyos. He looked a lot more interested in the reward than the twenty year old woman's warm smile.

"Oh...," Hinata's smile dropped and her once bright eyes dimmed a little bit.

She cannot help but feel a little bit disappointed by Naruto's refusal to even acknowledge her greetings.

Sure, he shouldn't yell, "Hey, HInata chan! It's been two years! Let's getcha out of here!" but a simple nod would have done the trick without arousing suspicion.

The daimyo of the Land of Water coughed a little and intoned his "victory speech,"

"Our champion, tell us your affiliation and come forth to reap the award of your victory!"

After a little pause, the nin walked up to the row where she and the daimyos were sitting.

'It's been two years, but I guess Naruto kun didn't miss me so much,' Hinata began to feel a little stung.

'Maybe he became a different personality,' she then mentally scolded herself. 'He's doing his job. Do yours, Hinata!'' She shook her head.

"So you're employed by the Water Daimyo! Then the glory of claiming the Waker's Pearl goes to the Water Daimyo sama!"

The other daimyos clapped in a begrudged manner, staring in envy toward the Water Daimyo.

The Water daimyo tried to hide the stupid smirk on his face and look as dignified as possible, as if he expected himself to win.

The Water daimyo cleared his throat and looked at the woman beside him, "Hum, hum, Hinata!"

Now that she was his, he doesn't need to add the honorary suffix "sama" to her name.

"Oh, yes!" she hurriedly stood up, and her eyes became downcast as she uttered, "master."

Even though she trusted Naruto and Shikamaru, she cannot help but feel a slight shiver run pass her as the water daimyo approached her.

"Bless my champion and then wait for me in my carriage," he ordered with a condescending air as he passed her side.

The complete change of the daimyo's attitude was no surprise. Hinata may be innocent in some regards, but she is not naive.

'What they wanted was an obedient doll who would fight for them and bleed for them. Not me.'

"Yes," she closed her eyes, willing herself to bear this humiliation of being a mere object. In her hands was a garland of flowers she made while waiting for the tournament.

'Shikamaru kun is nowhere to be found. Where is he?' now fear was slowly eating at her. She hesitated before approaching the mysterious nin who stood patiently before her, waiting for her to place the floral wreath around his neck.

Other than the gold and land given by the daimyo, the champion of the tournament is to be praised for his victory by the Waker's Pearl with a flower wreath.

"Hinata!" Now the Water daimyo called her in a sharp, impatient voice, and she flinched.

The swarthy nin seemed to stare into the daimyo's eyes, and he didn't like how disturbingly unreadable his champion was. He wanted to leave as soon as possible with his prize and enjoy his token bride.

Almost as if she was surrendering to her fate, Hinata slowly walked toward the tall nin in graceful, even strides.

As she walked toward the nin, she slowly took off her mantle cloak, revealing what was inside.

The cloak dropped to the ground and revealed what was underneath-a tight fitting two piece dress that reveals her ivory shoulders and soft stomach.

She stood right in front of the nin who was clad in black from head to toe. Now that she was standing right before him, she noticed how the tall he was. She was even wearing an inch high wedge sandals.

'Naruto kun, you've grown a lot.' she looked up to him, 'but...why aren't you moving, Naruto kun?'

Then fear like a sharp kunai pierced through her chest, 'Is it possible...that Naruto and Shikamaru decided to give me up?'

Her hands that were grabbing the garland almost crushed the flowers' delicate petals.

'So...that's how it is...' Her eyes became wet as she processed this terrible betrayal. 'These men behind me are the most powerful people in the Shinobi world...It makes sense that Shikamaru and Naruto kun decided that I was not worth it...'

Her insecurities started whispering dark things into her ear.

She wondered, 'Did they decide to trade me with Gaara and his siblings as ransom?'

"Hinata, this is the final time I give you my order!" The Water daimyo stomped on his feet, "Bless my champion and come right now!"

Hinata bowed her head low, and the tall dark nin merely stared down at the crown of her head.

Then she raised her head but she just couldn't look into the Naruto kun's eyes without crying about his betrayal.

Instead she lowered her eyes and said "My champion...you have my blessings." She tried to raise the garland above the nin's head, but he was just too tall.

She tried to stand on tippy toes, but she still couldn't do this simple task.

'Na...Naruto kun, you can at least help me,' she thought as she desperately tried not to fall over.

Then finally the nin slightly bended forward, allowing her to slip the flower garland over his head.

She encircled her arms around the nin's neck as if she was embracing him, and finally the champion had the flower garland around his neck.

Hinata bowed her head before him.

'Naruto kun...I wish for your happiness.'

And her feet slightly shifted as she started to turn her body away from him.

But then a pair of strong arms encircled her tiny frame.

"Ah..?"

As soon as she managed to gasp in surprise, she was in the champion's arms.

"Na...Naruto kun?!" now she cannot help but exclaim loudly. She can feel herself blushing as her temperature began to rise beyond her control.

But instead of saying anything, the dark champion merely squeezed her tiny body, pressing her bright red face against his taut, muscular chest.

His long fingers pressed themselves into the bare flesh of her back, and now Hinata was feeling quite squirmy by this intimate touch.

"Take your hands away from my Waker's Pearl!" The Water daimyo was livid with rage, but he cannot dare to approach the champion who just ousted all his competitors.

But the nin didn't even acknowledge his presence as he rested his chin on her bare shoulder.

He then slightly lifted her because of the difference in height and supported her as she struggled to put her feet back to the ground.

Now her heart was pounding like crazy, and she was feeling a bit dizzy in her head. But she fought to hold on to her sanity. She has never been held this intimately by a man before.

"Ah...ah..." She had no way of knowing that the nin slid the lower part of his mask below his shapely chin with his right index finger.

As he uncovered his chin up to his mouth, his warm breath tickled the shell of her left ear.

And then he turned his face, and before she can even protest, placed his lips on hers.

Everyone present stared at the two in stunned silence. Collapsing onto the ground, the Water daimyo looked like he just saw the world apocalypse unfolding right before him.

But nobody was as surprised as the receiver of this kiss.

He still had his mask over the upper part of his face and hair, but his uncovered lips were touching hers, but not roughly or possessively.

His lips gently nipped at her bottom lip, almost as if to make sure that she was real, and then growing bold, his lips engulfed hers in a tender kiss.

After the initial shock, Hinata finally came to her senses and started struggling against the unanticipated embrace and kiss.

"Um...um" she emitted soft moans of protest but the nin made a quick inhale and tightened his hold on her as if she was inviting him to kiss her with more passion.

The tight contact between their bodies caused the garland she worked on so hard to crush, and the scent of flowers made the kiss feel even more intoxicating than she would dare to admit.

She writhed and beat his back with her fists, but she couldn't even get him to loosen his grip.

But then she heard a familiar voice calling her name from way behind the nin who finally released her, exhaling what seemed to be a sigh of frustration.

"Hinata chan!"

The tall nin quickly pushed her away as a tall blond shinobi lunged at him, and sparks seem to fly as their kunais clashed against each other.

"Naruto kun!"

'But if the shinobi who just appeared and is now fighting the tall nin is Naruto, then who is...'

"Hinata chan!"

"Shi..Shikamaru kun?"

She was instantly lifted up in Shikamaru's arms in a bridal style.

"Hold on tight, Hinata chan! We're leaving this shit hole!"

"Wa-wait, Shika-!"

Before she can voice out her confusion, Shikamaru flew towards the exit of the arena.

"Get them!"

The daimyos' body guards all charged toward Shikamaru and Hinata at their order, but then they froze on spot as soon as they saw the people who blocked their way.

"Not so fast..."

A dry, monotone voice came from the tall red headed Kazekage whose forehead was tattooed with the character "Love."

"How...how did you?"

"It took my boyfriend some time to free us," Temari stretched her neck sideways, making cracking sounds. Then she flapped open her fan.

"You didn't seriously think that you got us, didn't you?" Kankuro's smirk made the daimyos grow pale.

"So...this...this was all..." The daimyos retreated step by step.

"Yup, all a trick to gather you guys like sheep," Kankuro crossed his arms and nodded.

Temari roared like the true lioness she was, "Now it's pay back time!"

* * *

It was a bright summer afternoon when Hinata started walking back home.

Thankfully Shikamaru and Gaara were able to imprison the despotic daimyos and take away and redistribute their power and land to the rightful owners.

Meanwhile Naruto accompanied Hinata on her way back to Konoha. Shikamaru was going to come back once he sets everything back to normal.

Temari apologized for misunderstanding her and even asked if she can visit her at the Uchiha mansion when she comes to Konoha.

Of course, Hinata was delighted.

So after saying good bye to Gaara, Shikamaru, Kankuro, and Temari, Naruto and Hinata crossed the expansive deserts.

It would've been a most tiresome travel if not for his bright personality and her indulgent, sweet demeanor.

While Naruto narrated his adventures, Hinata smiled at his adorably juvenile sense of humor and nodded at his unexpected spark of maturity.

But even while she was listening to Naruto, she couldn't forget the mysterious nin who attacked her in the most unexpected way in the tournament.

"It was probably a defective shadow clone that acted out of Naruto kun's control!" she told herself aloud as she slowly trudged in the direction to the Uchiha mansion.

She thought about asking Naruto if it was possibly one of his shadow clones that attacked her.

But whenever she tried to bring it up, she couldn't complete her words because of her rapidly beating heart.

Whenever she would say "never mind, Naruto kun," Naruto's bright blue eyes seemed to narrow slightly as if he noticed that she was keeping a little secret.

Hinata thought 'I better not show too much of myself in front of Naruto kun. He can actually be quite perceptive.'

Naruto volunteered to walk Hinata home, but she insisted on walking by herself. She needed some time of silence and solitude.

"One of his many many shadow clones must've accidentally...ah...accidentally..."

Then the memory of firm lips meeting hers in a soft touch...and how they opened...

Heat began to rise in her cheeks, as she replayed the memory again in her head.

Her eyelashes shuddered as she remembered his hands, the man's strength that easily gathered her into his arms.

While she kept remembering the kiss and talking to herself, she already arrived right in front of the Uchiha mansion.

"A shadow clone," she murmured to herself in a low voice.

Her eyes that kept roaming here and there in indecision and embarrassment stared at the wooden door with the divided fan symbol.

"The one who ki...attacked me is just Naruto kun's defective shadow clone."

That was the conclusion she settled on. Or at least told herself that it was the truth. Or else she was sure she was going to go insane.

It was more for her sake that she made up her mind about the 'accident' as she pushed open the door.

And there...

he was.

* * *

Sasuke sat on the wooden still of the traditional sliding panels, one leg folded and another spread out. Letting the cool fresh air to come into the mansion that turned stuffy because of Hinata's absence.

The main courtyard was kept clean and well maintained while he was gone. He surveyed his surroundings as he leisurely turned a diamond shaped crystal bottle like a spinning top on the porch.

But what really caught his attention was the garden Hinata has tended to for two years.

In front of the wide entrance door still was the wooden porch where he would see her mend old clothing or sort out chaff or other debris from the seeds she collected in the hills.

She and the dobe sure took their sweet time coming back from Suna.

They weren't technically slow. It's just that he came first and was there before she came and changed back into her normal attire.

Two years, and it seemed a lot of have changed but then haven't.

What was just rows of small mounds of dark soil were replaced by flourishing herbs that she would use to cook, make healing or cosmetic salves, or freshen up bathrooms.

Cute black and white stones drew the line between each flora and vegetation, lavender, cypress, sage, briar rose, and holly that rowed up like eager, well behaved children.

The patches of lavender were shorter than the ones he usually sees. About a foot and a half.

She even had a small plot of garden where she grew little tomatoes that were still too green for picking. She even had peppers that were turning orange at the end.

What was a little odd to Sasuke was that she hung some corn on the porch with straw braids.

Then something seemed to move in one of the garden thrushes.

His eyebrows snapped in wary concentration but soon relaxed at finding out what it was.

A small bunny rabbit with honey beige fur came out from the tiny bushes. It wiggled its ears and fearlessly went straight to the porch and placed its pert nose on the corn. Soon its pouty furry mouth nibbled at the dried treat at an exceedingly fast rate.

Sasuke's brows creased, as he rose from his seat to chase the creature away.

"Don't."

His eyes slightly widened at the soft but firm voice of a woman who barely changed at all.

He turned to see Hinata on the porch, holding a stack of folded laundry with two hands. She changed into a light purple cotton kimono that barely covered her ivory ankles. All dresses in the market usually had to be cropped in order for her to fit.

"The corn is for him."

He went back to sitting on the porch, saying "It's a pest."

The fifteen year old brat in him wanted to add that rabbits are also good sources of protein just to agitate her.

She's been acting cold and apathetic towards him, almost like a walking and moving doll, since she finally came back home.

He knew the reason behind the change in her attitude but decided to feign ignorance.

The young woman seemed gratified to know that he wasn't going to bring up what happened in the land of golden sand.

He internally smirked, but his pride wouldn't let him show that he was actually gloating on this advantage he had over her.

As she bent down to place the folded laundry next to him, she lowered her eyes and continued speaking in that calm, but light and girlish voice.

"I first spotted him eating the tomato leaves. I couldn't find a way to deter him, so I placed the corn out for him. He stopped eating the vegetables since then."

He didn't say anything as he watched her stately movements with unreadable dark eyes.

Saying "Excuse me," she stood up and turned in a huff, intending to leave him alone in the porch again.

His brooding dark eyes had a strange predatory glint when he scanned the back of her figure, but he refused to say anything.

When she closed the kitchen door behind her, he frowned.

Who knew that Kidnapper can throw a tantrum. It's just that she doesn't throw a fit by punching into random objects and screaming her head out like Sakura or Ino. When she is seriously ticked off, she just withdraws her usual sun ray-like kindness and lets the cold wind blow around her whenever she comes near the object of her wrath-him.

Thinking about the reason Hinata is so pissed made him feel unbelievably smug and self satisfied.

He then stopped the crystal bottle from spinning like a top and peered at it between his thumb and index finger.

He remembered the first time he finally got his hands on this, which was just six months ago.

When he finally caught his silver haired teacher off guard during their matches and took away 'the thing that is always on Hinata san's body 24/7."

How unbelievably pissed he was, when Kakashi teased him about how he takes a whiff of this unknown object whenever he reads those perverted novels.

Back then he didn't even know what the hell the '24/7 object' was. And that just drove him crazy, tossing and turning in sleepless nights and urging him to go throw some kunais under the moon to vent his frustration.

So when he finally defeated Kakashi and got the 'thing,' Sasuke couldn't help but breathe a huge sigh of relief when he saw what it really was.

Seeing his student's response, from nervous and profusely blushing to relieved and slightly disappointed, was too amusing to let it slide. So Kakashi teased him again and unsurprisingly earned a black eye.

"Sometimes it's the thing you can't see or grasp that is most alluring, fufufufu..." _Snap_

That prurient son of a bitch was really good at tapping into inappropriate fantasies that boys of all ages have no defense against.

It was a small glass vial that was partially filled with what seemed to be clear, water-like liquid.

Even thought the vial was closed tight, the strong but delicate scent emanating around the closed lid told him that it was perfume.

White tea and crushed jasmine. The scent was actually deeper and much more adult than he ever expected from the small woman.

The small woman who wears pale colors and jackets that were at least a size too big.

But then perfume always has a seductive note as long as it is not repellingly heavy or musky like how some women and even men spray themselves.

Plus, even if she smelled of something daily and mundane like lemons or peppermint, many guys would've still found it unique and irresistible. Because that was just how she was.

Sasuke, the mad nin who earned 'redemption' by completing the seven daimyos' quests like some mythological badass, now needs to find a way to talk to a girl who was mad at him for kissing her.

He lightly placed the crystal bottle on his lips and contemplated the best way to give this back to her.

After some thoughts, he decided to just make it simple and give it to her himself. Even a stubborn girl like Hinata can't possibly stay mad after getting back her long lost possession, especially something as intimate and nostalgic as a perfume.

'It'll be a nice ice breaker,' he thought as he rose from his seat.

* * *

When he went inside the kitchen, he saw that she was busy preparing for dinner. She went right to the sink to wash her hands after hastily pushing her travel backpack to the corner.

He briefly cast a sideway glance at the luggage and saw a tiny burgundy red fan peeping from one of the pockets.

It was odd. Kidnapper never bothered herself with accessories at all before, so this was quite new. Maybe she developed a hobby while he was gone.

The fan was also one of his favorite color-deep, dark, murky red.

Curiosity prompted him to pull out the fan from the pocket without much thought.

He flapped it open with an elegant snap of his wrist and looked at this dainty feminine piece.

But his eyes widened as soon as he saw the calligraphy on the fan.

"Sasuke, do you want your tofu fried or..."

But Hinata froze as soon as she saw Sasuke reading the content of the fan.

"Sasuke!"

She ran and jumped up to reach for the fan but he effortlessly drew it away from her reach.

"Sasuke, I can explain-"

"What is this?!"

His eyes momentarily snapped into a florescent red and went back to pitch black, but what remained was confusion and rage.

"It's not what you think!" She held her hand up to calm him, but he flinched from her touch and stared back into the fan in anger and suspicion.

"So this is Shikamaru's work. He should've pretended to be the Waker's Pearl himself. Didn't know that he would be so good at seduction."

Her face turned into a concerning shade of red after he finished skimming the written content of the fan and remarked with a tone of mockery and indignation.

"Shika kun and I needed to set the daimyos up, Sasuke," she tried to reason with him.

She just hoped that he won't go and unleash his fury on the poor nin who is supposed to be enjoying his date with the blond and strong Sunanese warrior.

"But you were clearly happy to go along with it," his tone was biting and sarcastic as he changed the object of his glare, from the fan to the young woman who flinched.

"I...I trust them, Sasuke. A-and you should place more trust in them too."

When Sasuke shut his lips in a tight line, Hinata began to hope that she can ameliorate his anger.

But that hope was quickly dashed as he spoke through gritted teeth.

"That bastard tried to sell you."

Her eyes widened in shock at his crude words, and she turned her head, wanting to end the conversation.

"I-it was pretend, Shikamaru kun was just being...politically shrewd."

But he was not going to let her go. He grabbed her wrist when she tried to leave.

"What if they decided to just give you over? Wouldn't that be the most political thing to do?"

"Stop! Let go of me, Sasuke! Even if the plans changed, I was going to find a way to free myself!"

"What, by asking them to release you?"

Their voices were getting louder and louder. Hinata almost felt like crying. She didn't want her homecoming greeting for Sasuke to turn out like this.

She stammered, looking down at her wrist that he caught captive, "That...that daimyo would've probably just let me be...if he thought I wasn't good at fighting at all."

And she never raised her voice at him, but they were having a shouting match in the very kitchen she was preparing their dinner that they didn't have for two years.

Now nobody cared about the sad tofu that was sitting in the white ceramic bowl on the kitchen counter.

He stared at her in disbelief, still detaining her with his iron grip.

She can clearly hear the exasperation in his voice, "Do you really think that those pigs wanted a mere bodyguard?"

Her opalescent eyes with lavender shadows stared at him with a look of challenge, "Th-then why else would they want me-me?"

When he remained rooted in stunned silence, she managed to snatch her wrist away from his hands that relaxed slightly at her words.

"You...really don't know?"

She rubbed her sore wrist with her other hand and whispered, "I...I have enough of this."

As his eyes dropped to her wrist that turned red, his face made a bitter grimace.

"Are you acting innocent or are you deliberately trying to piss me off? Cause it's working."

At his spiteful words, she raised her head and glared at him with wet, resentful eyes.

As soon as she opened and closed the kitchen door, she ran along hallway in the direction to the stairs.

She heard several quick footsteps padding lightly on the wooden floor behind her, but she kept her eyes forward.

Still upset about their ruined homecoming, his disrespectful, scornful words and inability to listen, she stammered "Le-leave me-me alone!"

Then finally she didn't hear any more footsteps.

She was about to throw an angry glare back at him, but when she glanced back, she almost turned into stone.

"St-stop following me!"

She saw him strutting toward her in the long corridor with a face she has never seen on him before.

At that moment, she began to run for her life.

As fast as she can, she bolted up the stairs that lead to the upper level where all the bedrooms were.

She was very fast, but Sasuke got an upper hand because he didn't care about formalities or the house ware or even the furniture like Hinata.

He slid across the floor, causing dust to rise like smoke and hoisted himself up to the top of the staircase by jumping over the rails.

In a minute, he was breathing down on her neck.

Her breath was knocked out of her as she felt a strong, forceful grip on her shoulder that swayed her entire body.

She stubbornly closed her eyes shut, refusing to give the satisfaction of her surprise or fear to her assailant-turned adoptee. And she was so close to reaching for her bedroom door knob.

Before she can fully register what just happened, she was suddenly down on the ground.

She cautiously opened one eye and she saw.

And there he was, towering above her, and she was pinned underneath like a fly caught in a long-legged spider's web.

With his long, lean arms and legs that caged her underneath him, he kinda did look like a large spider.

Staring down at her with impassive but intense dark eyes, he slowly opened his lips.

"Do you...really not know?"

"Wha-what...is it I don't know, Sasuke?" She asked. She tried her best to maintain her brave, dignified front like a true older sister who still has everything, including an unreasonable, violent, adopted brother, under control.

He looked down at her infuriatingly calm face. That's how she would always look at him back in the days. As if she was beyond him and he was a teenager to understand and reason with. Even pinned underneath like a caught rabbit, she continued to talk as if she was indulging an irascible child.

And that was not just infuriating...It was driving him crazy.

"What those 'potential masters' wanted from you?"

It took a moment for her to process what he intended to do, but her eyes widened as he grabbed both of her wrists with his right hand and pinned them above her head.

And without a word, he began rummaging the collar of her kimono with his free hand.

" _Cho...chotto_ _! Chotto matte!"_

Heedless of the urgency in her voice, he continued digging through the layers of the fabric that covered her chest.

She can hear the rustling of cotton as his fingers busied themselves to get underneath her yukata, a layer underneath her kimono.

Just the sound and its implications made her stomach well in panic.

'No, no, if he gets his hand under...!'

The next to be touched would be her bare skin, and she didn't want that. Yes, of course, she was wearing underwear but that still was-

"St-stop, Sasuke!"

She tried moving her legs, but he already placed his knee between her legs, fastening her on to the floor. She forgot that she had a kimono on.

When the collar slipped slightly to reveal the top part of her cleavage, she squeezed her eyes shut and turned her face away in shame.

Then she heard the sound of a breath quickly sucked in.

The quietness in the corridor would've been oppressive and unbearable, if not for the mind-numbingly loud sounds of each other's breathing.

Sasuke stiffened at the sight of the girl whose hair splayed on the ground like a shining black halo. A soft sigh escaped from his lips as he looked at

her chest was rising up and down. He can feel the heat radiating from her blushing face and neck. He studied her profile as she continued resolutely turning her face away from him. A slight tear drop threatened to roll down the curve of her round cheek.

He did just enough to warn her about the consequences of naivete that bordered on stupidity. Now It was time to back off.

But he cannot help but remain paralyzed at the sight of her flushed face and neck, parted lips, and partially ravaged kimono.

On top of that...

Just managing a glimpse of the uppermost part of her cleavage felt like a hard upper punch into his gut.

The sudden lightening of her skin tone down her collarbone told him enough. And just seeing the skin turn from slightly tanned, light beige to fair ivory made him know that...

he was a split second away from exposing her. And if he did, he'll be the worst dog to call himself a ninja.

For a moment, he related with some wolves that would gaze forlornly at their half caught prey that he seized from their jaws, being the jerk he was.

But it was not only his pride that kept him from stooping so low.

He would rather disembowel himself with Kusanagi and let ravens feast on his gut than ever hurt his little fool.

His pretty little fool. The pretty one.

And he wasn't letting some pigs in velvet do that. Not in a million years.

After all these thoughts passed like a whirlwind, he swooped himself up and separated from her as if her skin was on fire.

She raised herself up on her elbows and gathered the roughly treated fabric up to her chest and stared at his back.

She saw her young master sigh and then rake through his dark hair with his hands before pressing on the back of his neck.

As he pressed on the back of his neck with interlaced fingers, he exhaled a deep sigh.

"...I'll make dinner." He mumbled as he walked away.

And then he went down the stairs, he spared a cursory glance at her who stared at him wide-eyed.

"Go take a shower or something."

When he turned back and went down the stairs, a soft voice halted him in his steps.

"Sasuke...?"

He froze, but his eyes looking at her were calm and dry as if nothing trespassed between them.

"I...I..."

His brows furrowed. It was his way of telling her to hurry up.

But that rarely worked. The look on his face more often than not made her even more nervous.

"Sas-Sasu...I-I..."

But she eventually will tell him what's on her mind or bothering her.

"Ar-are you wearing my perfume?!"


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Author's Notes: OMG, I got 57 followers! Does that mean I might be able to reach a 100 by Jan 2018? I hope so! Thank you so much! Beware, tons of fluff and angst. And for the next chapters (about 3-5ch.s I think), it will be all about Hinata's ancient past. ;)

* * *

"Sa-Sasuke, I-I'm warning you! Go to the shower. This instant!"

Looking like a determined rabbit with her round dewy eyes, she looked up at Sasuke and ordered him to go erase the trace of her perfume.

For ten minutes, she has been blushing and stammering over his "insolence" that "only got worse during his two year long missions."

Her tiny pouty lips quivered as she saw him casually cross his arms and cock his head to the other side, asking her if that was all she got.

While she continued telling him how "inappropriate" it was for him to smell like her, he maintained his silence and began to wonder about her strange behavior.

Did Kidnapper seriously think that it will work? Verbally scolding a man who just came back from the Five Shinobi Nations' daimyos' missions that were designed to kill him before he turns eighteen? And those fat cats really wanted him dead for stamping on the old order of the most prestigious clan in the Land of Fire-the Hyuugas. They were worried that they'll be next, because they had plenty of their own dirty laundry.

His case of extreme self-confidence didn't get better either when he played a major part in Shikamaru's master plan in overthrowing the anarchic power system of those corrupt daimyos in Suna.

He might be cocky and full of himself, but perhaps he shouldn't be judged too harshly for it.

Thinking of Hinata's effort to persuade him with words, he scoffed.

He thought, 'Please...But it's cute.'

His eyebrow raised in question as he looked down at her, and Hinata was getting exasperated and confused by her diminished authority as the elder sister figure. What went wrong? Where did her stubborn, rude, but (in the end) obedient little brother go?

"If someone smells you and-and notices..!"

"I don't mind," he then blinked his eyes in mock innocence, a naughty habit he picked up from Kakashi, "Should I?"

He tried to keep his mouth from breaking into a teeth-baring smile at his seething legal guardian. He was not eighteen yet, so technically she still had her beloved guardianship over him.

He looked at her face that looked like it was going to combust any soon with amused interest. He knew that she was far too shy and reserved to even explain why it would arouse uncomfortable suspicion toward an unrelated man and woman who share the same body odor.

Of course he knew why him walking around, reeking of Hinata's homemade perfume would raise a scandal in this tiny Hidden Leaf village. He didn't really enjoy smelling like jasmines and girly caffeinated tea either, but seeing her struggle to keep her shred of authority over him was far far too entertaining.

"If you explain to me why it bothers you much, I might consider it," his eyes gleamed in quiet mischief like the way she used to do to him three years ago. He didn't forget to add "Might" at the end, just to emphasize just how powerless she is.

If she tries harder to please him, he might consider putting her poor mind into ease by taking another shower for the day.

The teenager who is not far from being 5ft 9 at the tender age of seventeen, made a devious smirk that stirred strange feelings in women across the Five Shinobi Nations.

Getting revenge is a sadistic habit that is uniquely his own.

When she thought things cannot get any worse, she heard voices of two men beyond the kitchen wall and activated her byakugan.

Beyond the main courtyard and the wooden gates, she can see Hyuuga Neji and Inuzaka Kiba.

"Oh no..." her lips quivered.

"Hinata-sama, are you in there?"

Neji and Kiba were truly relieved to hear that Hinata has come back to Konoha safe and sound and decided to ask her if she would like dinner at the Hyuuga's place.

"Hey, Neji, I don't know why but there are two people who smell exactly like Hinata chan."

Kiba's nose sniffed in the air, and he made a puzzled frown.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I mean, I grew up with dogs right? You can't fool my nose."

"Maybe Hinata sama is with a guest," Neji suggested.

"But Hinata chan said she always uses stuff that she makes at home. Market perfume gives her allergies and makes her sneeze like crazy."

Now Neji began thinking it was odd. "Huh?" If Kiba's nose was right, then it was indeed a little strange.

"Hi guys, what are you doing in front of Sasuke kun's house?" a feminine voice that Hinata can never mistake for anyone else. Sasuke groaned.

"Oh, Sakura chan! You know, Sasuke is supposed to be back too? Wanna see-"

And at that instant Sasuke's kidnapper bolted out from the kitchen and escaped the Uchiha mansion through the upper floor window.

* * *

In her favorite spot in the Konoha's forest, Hinata sat in front of the mountain stream and tried to cool her heated cheeks. She wetted her fingers with the cool stream water and pressing both sides of her face with her hands.

The Konoha's Forest of Death might be the most well known for being a stage for chunin exams and survival tests, but it was also very beautiful in all seasons.

The green acorns hanging on the forest canopy would gleam in the summer sunshine, and she would often come to pick wild shitaki mushrooms or mugwort to brew tea. She loved walking on the green grass and occasionally discover gems, like a prematurely ripe acorn, pinkish white clovers, or dandelion leafs that she would pluck to make salad for Hanabi or digestive medicinal pearls for Chouji.

Sometimes she would see a poor baby bird that has fallen from its nest and pick it up and take it home to its mama and siblings who were crying anxiously in their oak tree. Enjoying the sunshine in the lush green forest is one of her favorite outdoor pastimes. But Hinata wasn't there to gather herbs or interact with the animals.

What just happened between her and Sasuke was just so mortifying that she decided that some distance would really help her clear her head and her thundering chest.

She stared into her reflection in the clear waters. She can see stones of various brown and grey shades on the bottom of the river bank and a few teeming fishes.

After checking if there was anywhere with her byakugan, she decided to pull up her skirt and dip her feet and calves into the stream. The water was knee deep.

If she hesitated even a moment, before the three opened the main gates and barged into the house...

She shivered at her imagination of what would have happened. Thank God it never happened, but it was close.

Kiba screamed, "Fuck! Sasuke smells exactly, EXACTLY like Hinata? Did you guys...? But that's incest! Wait, she adopted him...Hell no, that's still incest!"

Neji's pale white eyes shook in disbelief, "Hinata...sama..." and fall backwards and lost consciousness at spot.

Sakura crying and throwing punches into the kitchen in distress...

Hinata thanked her quick judgment and the heavens above for letting her escape before such calamity falls upon their heads.

As she sighed, she gently swayed her light beige calves in the clear water and watched the tiny fish swim away from her feet.

Like that, she closed her eyes as she felt immersed in the silky wetness of the stream water and listened to the babbling brooks.

"Relax..." she told herself.

* * *

After training for three hours in a remote area of the Forest of Death, Naruto was sweating and panting profusely and needed a drink and a cold splash of water.

So he went to the stream where he can drink water made of snow that melted and flowed from the highest point of the mountains.

The Konohan sign near the river told passerbys to try not to drink from the stream because of the possibility of the water carrying germs of dead wild animals, but nobody really cared anyways. A lot of ninjas carried water filtering gadgets and bottles, but Naruto has always believed that nature acts as a self-sufficient filter and for ninjas, it is quicker to die during missions than to die of water poisoning in the Forest of Death anyways.

So he hurriedly knelt down on the bank, not caring to survey the area around him because of his burning thirst. He hastily took off his ninja headband and placed it next to him. The wet mud and water seeped into the fabric of his knees as he splashed the cool water into his burning face several times.

He dipped his tan hands onto the silky water and washed his face until he felt his face cool down to its normal temperature.

But then finally he felt a sense of someone nearby, in the opposite side of the stream. He still had his hands covering his face, so he slowly lifted his large blue eyes to see who was right in front of him, just a few feet away.

His eye sight was blurry because of the heavy water drops hanging from his long eyelashes, but he can figure out that the figure was a dark haired woman sitting on the bank.

He blinked and shook off the water drops from his eyelids and looked harder again.

It was Hinata. But what was she doing here?

"Uh..." Naruto wondered if he should wake her up. Even though it was the middle of summer, she might catch a cold by dozing near the icy cool stream.

He looked at her face for signs of a cold or worst, a flu. So far, she looked okay. She wasn't shivering. Her lips were a healthy pink, a bit on the pale side, but nothing abnormal.

As he stared at her, he thought, 'Wow...she looks really different when she sleeps."

She looked...a lot younger. He always thought that she was a grown-up with ages of wisdom because she acted so mature. But seeing her look so defenseless in her peaceful nap made him wonder if she was closer to being a girl like Sakura than an actual adult.

He jumped a little when he saw her shoulders move slightly as she softly breathed in and out.

'Uhh...this is getting awkward,' he thought. He pulled up the cuff of his sleeves and pants and placed both of his feet on the stream.

He slowly trudged through the water to get to her side. She was so deeply absorbed or either asleep that she didn't hear the sound of splashing approaching her.

He lowered his upper body, leveling his eyes with Hinata's. His nose wrinkled as he scrunched his entire face in contemplation over what to do.

Now that he was a lot closer to her, he get to have a detailed look at her features.

He thought, 'She got some of the longest eyelashes I ever saw on anyone...Is her hair natural blue?'

"Umm..."

Before Naruto can back off, her eyes snapped open, and all he can see were pure white orbs that radiated various beams of purple light.

And in blink of an eye, he was roughly pushed down on the muddy bank where Hinata was originally sitting on.

As he shut his eyes and raised both of his hands in sign of submission, he yelled, "Hey hey Hina-chan, it's me, me, Naruto!"

He tentatively opened an eye and peeked. Flanked by cascading black hair was a blushing face with frightened pearl white eyes.

"Oh, oh, Naruto kun! I'm so sorry! So so sorry!" She quickly jumped off, and Naruto got up, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Wow, Hina chan, I must've really spooked you, right there haha" he made a laugh that made his whisker marked face look like a good natured cat.

"No, no, I'm sorry. I was just surprised because I didn't feel any chakra and suddenly..."

"Oh yeah! You told me you can't feel my chakra right?"

"Ye-yes," she averted her eyes from his bright blue ones. "Oh no, your jumper!"

Naruto went "uh?" and lifted his elbow and looked at his jumper sweater, the orange and black one he always wears.

"DOn't worry about it. It's just a little mud, Hinata," he laughed.

And with a quick, chipper "Excuse me," he turned and took off his sweater, casually exposing his tan, muscled upper body. He stood up and shook the mud off his sweater with a few shakes, saying "So what got you sleeping here in the first place? You looked pretty tired." And then he hung it over one of the nearby tree branches and turned.

She had completely turned her back to him. She pushed her black hair behind her ears that turned bright red as if all the blood of her face decided to rush to her ears.

"Are you...okay?"

"Yes!" Her voice was loud as her spine straightened up like a metal rod.

"Haha, you're talking like a soldier, Hinata" he laughed as he sat down crosslegged behind her.

"uh...uh...Na-Naruto kun..."

"Yeah?"

"Can I a-a-ask a que-question?"

His eyebrow rose. It was the first time he heard Hinata stammer, even though he heard from the teme that it was her habit. And what did Hinata had to ask him about? Even though he knew he was going to be the future hokage someday, he knew that he wasn't always the smartest tool in the box.

"It-it's about a-a-a friend."

His face widened into a huge grin. "Sure! I might not look like it, but I actually am pretty good at listening!"

"Oh-oh, thank you..."

"So, what about your friend? Is it a guy or a girl?"

"A-a girl...Umm...she..." Hinata took a pause. She breathed in. Then she breathed out. After that deep breathing like that several times, she looked a lot calmer.

"So...my friend...she's a young shinobi like you, and she decided to take this job...But her...younger brother didn't like that she was going to work."

"What's the job?"

"A..a body guard."

"Is it someone I know?"

She hiccuped. His eyes narrowed. "N-no. I-I d-don't think so!"

He drawled on as he said "Oookaay...keep going..."

"Sh-she was going to be a body guard...to the ex-daimyo of...the Water Nation."

"Sheessh!" Naruto raised his voice and Hinata jumped, "No wonder her brother didn't like it! That guy's the worst!"

"Ca-can I ask why, Naruto?" She finally turned towards him, looking at him with inquisitive white eyes.

"So, you know that Shikamaru had to stay behind in Suna to investigate the ex daimyos, right?"

She nodded.

He blurted out, "He is a huge sex maniac!"

Seeing her freeze into a ice statue didn't stop Naruto from spilling the juicy details, "He said that every woman, no matter if she's married or underage or what not, is his. And it turned out he got his bodyguard five months pregnant. That's why he was interested in you!"

"Oh, Naruto..." She covered her eyes with her left hand, mortified.

"Hinata chan! This is serious!"

Hinata's eyes flung open in surprise as Naruto grabbed both of her shoulders and forced her to look right at him.

"It...it was really," he had to calm down and catch his breath first before continuing, "really noble of you to give yourself like that for the civilians and their family!"

Hinata stared wide eyed at Naruto whose piercing blue eyes seemed to bore right into her soul. 'So he knew...Of course...'

"But that doesn't mean you should serve yourself on the platter for that pervert!"

"Uh, um, Naruto!" For some reason, Naruto wasn't seeing that Hinata was close to fainting in his arms. He was too passionately absorbed by his objective to drill in precautions into the girl's head. It was widely known that Naruto has a tunnel vision when it comes to achieving goals.

"That old guy humps on everything that looks remotely female! Promise me! Never never never sign yourself up like that ever again!"

"I-I will, I-I mean I won't! So-so wou-would you pl-please let me..."

"We could've done it in other ways!I'll tell Shikamaru off for that stupid plan! I'll give him the beating of his life!"

"Na-Naruto!"

When Hinata finally yelled his name out loud, Naruto came to his senses. As soon as he came to his senses, he realized two things. One, he is half naked in front of Hinata. Two, he can feel a very very dark force.

He slowly turned his head toward the forest where he felt the palpable aura of danger and menace.

"Naruto, you pervert!"

His pink haired crush punched his face with her fist, sending him flying mid air before he slammed into the tree where he hung his wet, dirty jumper sweater.

"You come back after two years, and the first thing you do is hit on Sasuke kun's sister? What are you thinking?"

"Sa...Sakura...it's not what you think.." Naruto shivered as he tried to stand up from that fatal blow.

"Shut up!"

Sasuke quietly looked at Sakura and Naruto, getting along as usual, and then shifted his gaze to Hinata who was still kneeling on the muddy bank.

"Ah...ah...Sasuke," her voice was barely louder than a whisper as his dark eyes continued to stare down at her coldly.

She bit her lips. 'Now...now I really got him mad. He mu-must've thought me so wanton...Gaping and blushing at Naruto kun like that...'

If there was a rabbit hole or a fox den somewhere, she wanted to hide into it.

She winced when she saw him reach toward her with his right hand. But soon she opened her eyes in surprise as he pulled her up gently as if she was a child.

"Sa..Sasuke," she murmured as she stared into his eyes that surveyed her entire body, from her face down to her wet muddy knees and bare feet. When he kept staring down at her feet, she blushed and her toes wiggled in embarrassment under his intense stare.

"Where did you leave your shoes?" He asked in a calm voice.

"It-it's over there...by the bank."

She turned and scurried to the big, flat rock where she placed her sandals. She slipped on her sandals and returned to Sasuke's side like a bashful child.

He seemed to be thinking of something as he stared down at her without words. Then he turned and his dark, expressive eyes looked piercingly into the forest.

He didn't even look at her, but she felt the weight of authority to his voice as he called her. "Hinata...it's late."

Her eyes widened. She seemed to be at loss for words for a second. He called her 'Hinata.' Not Kidnapper. He called her 'Hinata.'

'Did Sasuke finally decide to accept his place as the master of the Waker's Pearl?'

Then it means that she doesn't need to pretend to be his adopting sister and he doesn't need to be coddled like some spoiled boy.

He was her master. And she was his.

She can protect him. And protect him, she will.

'I will protect you,' Hinata said quietly in her heart.

He took a moment, before saying gruffly, "Let's go home," and he continued walking without turning back.

Hinata's eyes seemed to gleam for a moment, as she smiled and nodded.

The way she said "Yes" made him stop momentarily when he heard it for the first time.

The way she said it made him just want to turn and seize her in his arms the same way he did back in Suna, letting the freedom of his disguise abandon his rein on his self control when it comes to her.

It was so sweet, so gentle, but with a sad note of finality to it. It almost made his heart ache.

And it was only first of the many sweet, indulgent Yes's that he'll hear.

Like that, Sasuke and Hinata turned. While Sasuke didn't even bother, Hinata smiled apologetically and waved bye toward Sakura and Naruto who blinked in surprise towards their short but impressionable interaction.

"Sasuke kun..." Sakura looked like her world has just turned upside down. 'It can't be...No, can it? No...'

Meanwhile, Naruto forgot about rebutting Sakura's accusations and just stared at the disappearing form of the man and woman.

* * *

There was one thing that Hinata didn't know about Sasuke.

What many people misunderstood as his act of shoving things off his shoulder was his way of concealing the gears that turned in his head with murderous intent.

That was exactly how he reacted when he saw Kidnapper blushing in front of a half naked blond ape.

What people misunderstood as his mature reaction to seeing her with Naruto was simply the external guise he takes on as he devises a plan to make his kill.

No, he won't kill Naruto. It will only serve to push Hinata away, and what he wanted was the exact opposite.

The truth is Sasuke's devious, bold, and possessive nature really shines through when he perceives something as a genuine threat.

For example, when he sees something like a bear that mauled an entire shinobi infantry of the Land of Wind, he becomes really, really quiet.

So quiet that you can hear a maple leaf drop to the forest floor when he swiftly shoved his bare hand into the wild animal's throat and blasted a paralyzing chidori before the monster can chomp on his wrist for breakfast.

To this day it was a mystery to the Land of Wind detectives and investigators as how the seventeen year old achieved the task of bringing the giant bear's hide that was devoid of even a single wear or tear or a scar that would mar the fur's market value.

That was how he accomplished his last daimyo mission before he sacked them all in their fancy arena.

Even when he saw the ex-daimyos salivate over the sight of his Kidnapper like she was some juicy piece of steak, he didn't see them as any threat.

It would be below him to even consider them as being a remote threat to what was his from the beginning.

That was why he took the liberty of kissing her passionately in front of them. By kissing her, he wanted to relish in their pathetic delusions that they had a chance to take away Hinata from his life.

Even when she fought with all her might to get away, she was still his and as long as he's alive he won't let anything change that.

But when he saw her with Naruto...He felt that familiar rush of adrenaline in the beginning of a fight that made enemies believe that he has ice water running in his veins.

Out of some warped logic, his instincts told him that his childhood friend, a fellow orphan, the ramen addict dobe who preaches about camaraderie and dreams, was one day going to take away Hinata, his Hinata.

So instead of acting on his first impulse, which was to rip his skin off and whisk her away while leaving him to bleed, he decided to slowly approach the matters as if he was executing a mission.

First, he'll see if there were any signs of Naruto forcing himself upon her. Improbable, but still it was worth checking. Secondly, he'll agree to being her quote on quote "Master," since that means he can keep her by his side forever because she is the Waker's Pearl. Third, he'll make sure that his stupendously optimistic friend will never get in the way between them. And lastly, but arguably most important, he will make his relationship with Hinata be much more than a simple master-subordinate kind of relationship which seems to be her expectation.

If anyone had a death wish and asked him why he was being so possessive over Hinata, he wouldn't know how to explain it even if he wanted to.

And for him, the reason didn't matter as much as the fact that he wanted Hinata in his life and needed to be her everything.

* * *

Happily unaware of the aforementioned details, Hinata bade good night to Sasuke and thanked him for being so mature and understanding during that misleading situation with Naruto.

He smirked, "My pleasure" before dismissing her, and she didn't even have an inkling of suspicion toward the change in his character, attributing it to his personal growth during the time of the Seven Daimyos' missions.

She blissfully went to her bedroom and opened her diary with a lavender colored leather case that she kept since Day 1 of living with Sasuke.

She started writing with her ball point ink pen on the lined paper,

"Sasuke finally acknowledged me as his Waker's Pearl, and I am so happy. I wonder if I should call him with the affix "sama" like the old times in the Realm."

'The Realm,' she thought pensively.

She placed her pen down, as she stared at the word 'Realm.'

"Uchiha sama..." she whispered. Her eyes closed as in pain, "Uzumaki sama..."

Her eyes opened again as she uttered the last name, "Haruno...Sakura."

* * *

5010 years ago,

Never before had the little Hyuuga girl saw such magnificence unfolding before her. The spacious ornate room was flanked by towering pillars carved of pure black volcanic glass. The room despite its opulence looked rather solemn because of lack of decorations, not even a single landscape painting.

In front of the room was a podium where two empty thrones were placed. One was blindingly white and had elegant carvings of flying falcons, and another was made of dark cast iron and had a minimalistic design. The ivory throne had a orange satin cushion, and the black iron one had a red one with fringes. Behind the two thrones, there wasn't a wall. Instead there were dark blue navy curtains embroidered with elegant gold drawings that blocked the view of what was happening behind the scenes.

"That must be where the Waker samas sit!" She heard one of the girls in the room whisper in excitement.

"I can't wait," another girl giggled in anticipation. She seemed to be around ten as well.

The little Hyuuga girl looked down on the floor.

The teal green marble floor was so clear that she could see a reflexion of a nervous girl staring back at her. It was like floating on top of a mystical lake. The hundred girls who were lined in rows and dressed in pastel yellow dresses looked like fairies floating on top of teal green crystal waters. Even though she was also wearing the same dress, she felt strangely out of place. Their bright eyes were filled with merriment and anticipation as if they all wanted to come here. They all looked at least a year or two older than her too, but it might be just her below-average height.

The sunshine spilling through the milky sea shell window blinds turned into a soft light that cast an ethereal magic over the room and the girls. Their hair of various length and colors were either tied or decorated with green silk ribbons.

The room smelt of fresh cypress and frankincense, the oils that would only be burnt once a year during her tribes' celebration of the Sun and Moon. If anyone tried to steal the oils or burn them in any other occasion, they were to be executed for sacrilege.

"Hi, I don't remember seeing you before!" A young chirpy voice caught her attention.

She turned to see a girl who looked about her age, ten. But what surprised her was...

She cannot help but blurt out, "Gre-green eyes!"

The girl with astonishingly brilliant emerald eyes smiled, "And pink hair, I know. I get that a lot."

"Oh..." and the Hyuuga girl merely bowed her head low, not knowing how to start the conversation with this girl who looked like the personification of Spring.

Her short light pink hair was decorated with a light green bow on the top, and the soft yellow pastel dress looked very flattering on her long, athletic looking arms and legs. Her beauty stood out even among the hundred girls.

The high spirited girl didn't seem to mind her reticence, so she started introducing herself. "My last name's Haruno. So call me Haruno."

"Oh,o-okay...Haruno san..."

"What's yours?"

"Oh, my first name is-"

But before she can complete her words, the Haruno girl quickly covered her mouth.

"Oh geez, once you become a Waker's Pearl candidate, you're supposed to forget your first name, remember?! Did you forget?"

In fact, she didn't know at all. She doesn't even know what a Waker's Pearl even is. But she nodded her head fervently, as she stared into Haruno's stern emerald eyes.

"Now, what's your name?"

"Hyu-hyu-hyuuga..." She stammered as soon as Haruno freed her mouth.

"Oh, nice to meet you Hyuuga! We're technically competitors, but we can still be friends!"

"Com...petitors?" The girl's foggy white eyes widened. "What...ki-kind of c-competition, Haruno san?" What could all these beautiful, spirited girls possibly be competing for?

The girl called Haruno looked at her as if she came from outer space. "Wow, you don't know anything?"

Hyuuga bit her lips and cringed. That was an insult she was used to hearing back in home. She didn't expect to hear it in this beautiful place.

"No-no, sorry if I sounded mean!" Haruno shook her shoulder, "It's just that all of the girls here came here to be the Waker's Pearl, so it's weird that you don't know anything!"

She hated the tears of insecurity that were already spilling down her eyes, but she had to ask, "Wh..what's a...Wa-Waker's Pe-pearl-?"

Then a cold gust of incense-scented wind blew across the wide hall from the front of the room. The bronze lamp stands that lined by the walls suddenly ignited with fire that brought the whispering girls' attention to the front of the room.

Hyuuga didn't know how they suddenly appeared but suddenly before her appeared seven figures clad in black cloaks with embroidered images of a single red floating cloud.

"Shissh, it's the Akatsuki!" another girl quickly whispered.

"I heard you, student-chans! I told you to call us sensei samas, you fucki-" A tall man wearing a straw hat shaped like a cone with white paper fringes barked at the direction of the voices.

"Hidan, please. And go easy on that scythe." a woman with a large light blue paper flower on her hair sighed.

"I didn't sign up for this," a blond man who only revealed a single eye crossed his arms and gave a cross look at some girls who shot him heart eyes.

A grey haired man wearing round rimmed glasses merely smiled in the background. He looked the kindest and studious among the eight people, Hyuuga thought.

The creepiest of the seven were the remaining-a short bald ugliest man she ever saw with a hunched over body, mostly bald head, a sallow complexion, and a mask over his mouth. Others called him "Sasori."

But what really got the girls' skins crawling were the two beings who respectively talked in synchronization. Their bodies were at times elastic like a rubber gum or tough and sharp as a bull's horn, making Hyuuga feel both afraid and fascinated.

She heard one of the girls whisper behind her, "I remember when I first saw the White and Black Zetsu. I thought I was going to Hell, not the Realm!"

"Well, imagine how I felt when that creepy Sasori came to let bring me here!"

"I thought it'll be one of the Wakers who takes me to the Realm!"

"Forget it. The only girl who was escorted by a Waker is that stuck up Haruno girl." A girl glared sideways at the pretty pink haired girl who simply ignored her sneering.

"Hey, at least nobody ever got to personally see the Second Waker, Uchiha sama."

"Yeah, it was the First Waker, Uzumaki sama who brought Haruno here."

"Uzumaki sama is so cute. But the Second Waker sama..." the ten year old girl looked like she was going to swoon any minute.

"Ohh, he's so handsome! I'll do anything to be his Pearl!"

"In your dreams, frizzy hair!"

"Silence!" The man called Hidan yelled so loud that the girls finally stopped their chattering and stood in attention.

The woman Konan cleared her throat and unfurled a roll of paper, "Welcome to the heart of the Realm. We're the Akatsuki, the seven subordinates to the First Waker, Uzumaki, and the Second Waker, Uchiha."

The ugly hunchback named Sasori took two rolls of paper from his black cloak and placed each of them on the throne.

"Awww..." the girls whined in disappointment to see that instead of the actual Wakers, there were only posters each written "Uzumaki" and "Uchiha" to occupy the empty thrones.

"Due to the Waker samas' busy schedule, they cannot attend the Waker's Pearl candidates' orientation," Konan explained.

Hyuuga looked slightly to her right, and she was surprised to see even Haruno a little saddened by the Wakers' absence. She wondered which Waker she was expecting to see. Uzumaki in the ivory throne? Or Uchiha in the dark iron chair?

Hidan yelled, "Shut the fuck up before I sever your tongues!"

But the girls actually didn't seem even at least intimidated by the man's violent threat.

Konan continued, "First, congratulations for making it to being the candidates for the Waker's Pearl. It takes courage and passion to leave behind the world you've known all your of the candidates' age is around 10 to 11.

The world you inhabited before cannot exist without the "Realm," also known in your world as "heaven," "paradise," and sometimes "hell," and "the underworld.""

A girl rose her hand, "Konan sensei, I have a question."

"You may ask."

"How can the Realm be both paradise and hell?"

"It's because of the opposing natures of the two Wakers. The First Waker, Uzumaki sama is the Sun-he brings light and warmth to the Realm. But when there is light, there is also darkness. That is why Uchiha sama is called the Shadow Waker."

Konan asked, "As you know, the Waker samas control this alternative universe, the "Realm." And the Waker's Pearl is the Waker's closest, most loyal guardian who accompanies him during all his quests and lives for his best interests."

"Previously, the Waker's Pearl have been men, but since both of them attempted a coup to become the Wakers themselves, they decided that..."

"No, the blond dumbie wanted a hot, cute body guard. That's it." Deidara drawled on as he examined his finger nails.

"I'll be the First Waker's cute body guard!"

"No, I will!"

Hyuuga started feeling bad for the woman called Konan and even Hidan who looked like he wanted to just harvest the girls' necks with his scythe.

Konan sighed, "After six years, we shall have the Waker's Pearl exam to choose two girls who will respectively serve the First and Second Wakers. That means during those ten years, we will eliminate any candidates who violate the rules of conduct or show mediocre performance. The failed candidates will go back to where they came from and have their memories of the Realm erased."

Then soon silence fell. Konan was rather relieved to finally get the girls serious.

"The two girls who remain will each serve the First and Second Wakers. They will stay in the Realm and live a life of loyalty to their masters. And after their service...they'll be granted one wish. Since the Realm has close connections to both the spiritual and physical world, any wish can be granted. You can have a life of unparalleled wealth and status or you can even revive someone from the dead."

At this, Hyūga's eyes suddenly sparked in animation.

'Father...Mother...'

Now she really was interested in being the Waker's Pearl.

"But remember, if the Waker's Pearl disobeys the Wakers' orders, there will be no wish come true and she'll face due punishment."

Then Konan finally folded the paper back and faced the hundred girls who looked at her with sparkling eyes of anticipation. All except, Hinata. She was scared. Unlike these girls, she had nowhere to go back to. No parents to greet her with open arms. No one to tell her it's okay, that she did her best even if she didn't make it to being the Waker's Pearl.

And she really wanted her wish to come true.

'I want to see father...and mother.'

"Now, you shall soon have dinner in thirty minutes. I and the other Akatsukis will each divide you into teams and take you to your dorms. You're all dismissed."

* * *

Hyuga really wanted to be in Konan or Kabuto sensei's group, but sadly things have never turned out the way she would have. Instead she was placed in the Black/White Zetsu's Team.

She thought, 'At least I am not in the cell of the man named Hidan. He looked really scary.'

"Ugh, why do I have to be taught by someone so ugly?"

After Black/White Zetsu guided them to their dorms, the girls all walked in the direction to the palace cafeteria. They were definitely far from happy about their designated teacher.

Each group led by the six (seven?) Akatsuki members had about 16 to 17 girls. A good enough size for them to learn how to thrive on competition and teamwork.

"Ugly? He's a monster! A complete eyesore!"

Suuuwoop

"Kyaaahhh!"

"I might not be the looker, girls, but I can sure go through walls, fufufu..."

And both heads of the "monster" who appeared out of nowhere from the wall of the hallway disappeared with an ominous laughter.

"Ewww!"

"Forget it. Let's just run to the cafeteria!"

And the sixteen girls all ran toward the cafeteria, leaving Hinata behind.

Hinata was definitely creeped out like the rest of the girls, but she can't help but stand in awe over the wall where the White Zetsu just went through like transparent air.

Then she saw an eyeball blinking on the wall that nearly gave her a heart attack.

"Hey, Hyuga girl!"

"Eeep!"

The White Zetsu fully materialized next to her. He looked down at the ridiculous sized runt of a human girl.

"Why aren't you running off with others?"

"Ye-ye-yes, sir?"

"Do you need to poop?"

"No-no!"

She cannot help but stare in fascination over the grotesque ugliness of her new teacher and legal guardian.

Not knowing what to say next, "D-do-do you need to?"

"Hmm, me? No, I don't poop. You see, i was created by some life giving sculpture. I never need to eat or sleep. So of course, I don't need to poop."

"Oh-oh..."

Next thing she knew, her strange amorphous teacher was walking with her in the hallway that was lit with thousands of bejeweled candles, signaling that they were close to the palace cafeteria.

"So who brought you here? Deidara? Or Konan? Hopefully, not Kabuto."

She shook her head.

"Huh? Well, someone must've brought you here? Who would, other than the Akatsukis?"

"No..nobody, sir. None of the senseis brought me he-here."

Suddenly the tall Zetsu blocked the little girl's way.

"Wait...none of the Akatsukis brought you here?"

"N-no-no, sir..."

"Huh? But it can't be..."

His eyes rolled around in confusion, and much to Hinata's shock, he plucked his head and tossed it around like it was some leather ball.

"Hey, little poo, describe the person who let you in here. You can't come in here by yourself even if you die and resurrect twice. So tell me every detail."

"Umm...tall...I-it was dark when I first met him, sir."

"Okay, both of them are tall so whatever. Anyone would look tall to you, little poo. Tell me more."

Zetsu's head that was rolling around in his hands kept staring at her in concentration, and Hyuga felt a slight shiver running down her spine.

"What was the guy's hair color, little poo? Can you at least remember that?"

"Umm," Hinata placed a tiny pink finger underneath her chin and looked upwards as in deep in thought. And then she finally answered with as much confidence as she can. "Black, sir. The messenger sama's hair was black."

Thumppp!

"Owwww, fuuu...nnn!"

"Se-se-sensei, are you okay?!"

Forgetting her fears over the abhorrent sight, Hyuuga ran to where Zetsu's head started rolling on the ground. Then much to her amazement, the arm of the headless body stretched like a huge anaconda snake and tossed the head back to its original place.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine. No big deal," he said as if it was the most casual thing, amputate his head and roll it back in place.

"Little poo, listen."

He bent over and kept his eyes leveled with Hyuuga's frightened doe-like white eyes.

'How strange,' Hyuuga thought, 'Zetsu sensei still looks like...well, a monster or a yokai, but I'm not that scared anymore.'

"You see those little maggots over there?"

He pointed his long clawed index finger at the long lines of girls who chattered in front of the cafeteria door.

Even though they were beautiful girls, not maggots, Hyuuga decided to just nod in agreement. She didn't really have the guts to contradict him.

"They might look like pretty butterflies. They can even trick themselves, but they are maggots, little poo. Maggots...that spew mouth diarrhea."

Zetsu glared at them with his strange eye and hissed in malice.

Hyuuga cocked her head to the other side in confusion.

"Little poo, if they ever found out who brought you here, they'll eat you alive. I swear on my counterpart, the Black Zetsu on that."

"Wh-wh-why, Sensei? Wh-what di-did I do?"

"If you had guts and spunk like that pink hair Haruno, I would've worry a lot less. But you look like...well you look like...no defense, but you look like a little poo. You're easy meat to those frilly maggots."

"Wh-what sh-should I do?" Her eyelids no longer had the ability to withhold the tears of fear.

"No matter what, don't ever let them know who brought you here. Lie! Just say that I brought you here, okay?"

"Ye-ye-yes!"

"Okay, go have dinner, little poo. I need to go!"

And then White Zetsu disappeared right into the cracks of the cafeteria wall before any of the girls can spot them together.


	10. Chapter 10

She was sitting in the corner of the classroom after Kabuto Sensei's chemical biology class. The classroom was not an ordinary classroom because it was a classical stadium in an amphitheater style that accommodated a hundred of girls. As soon as Kabuto sensei's lesson was that over, Hyuuga was writing down the given homework assignments on her notebook.

"Hey!"

When the Hyuuga girl carefully raised her face and pointed to herself, asking the three girls "Me?" they sniggered and crossed their arms.

"So the rumors are true! You're a Hyuuga!"

"I told you! She has those beastly eyes!"

"They used to be powerful, but now they live like animals. My father is the clan head of Sato and he told me all about it." A girl whose last name is Sato explained with automatic promptness like a dictionary without feelings.

Hyuuga's naivete and pure heart made it difficult for her to realize right away that they were ridiculing her in front of class. She didn't do anything. She rarely even talked, except when the senseis called the attendance roll. What could she have possibly done that could've made these strangers already hate her existence?

Unaccustomed to such undeserved cruelty, Hyuuga blinked and stammered as she asked, "Yo-you you kno-know me?"

They stared at her with wide eyes and turned to each other. And then they cackled like hyenas, slapping each other on the shoulder. At that moment, Hyuuga can swear that those cute girls looked grotesque and evil.

"Well, I guess we should thank your father for bringing up such a daughter. It means one less rival for us."

Suddenly Hyuuga felt a quick surge of rage as she heard Sato's words. She can just squeeze her eyes and wait for the insults leveled against her to go away and fade in the air. But to hear that about her father, who loved her and was a honorable man till his death was more than she can bear. Her fists trembled as she bowed down her head and bit her lips.

"Oh, don't flinch like that, Hyuuga. Those things you have on your face give you away anyways."

Hyuuga can pretty much infer that "those things" meant her pupil-less eyes that hold no color or brilliance like the others. Desperate, she looked around the lecture room for help or at least some understanding, compassionate soul. But even though they can clearly hear the three girls' snide comments, the girls just averted their eyes and pretended to not have heard or seen them. Her only friend, Haruno was talking with Kabuto sensei who complimented on her extraordinary progress in chemistry.

"Oh, don't be mean, Ito chan! I really should thank my father. At least, he didn't die, leaving me to be some barbarian."

When the door slid open and Sasori sensei came in, looking as mummy-like and deformed as ever, the three girls, Takahashi, Sato, and Ito went back to their seats. Hyuuga breathed a sigh of relief. She never knew she would be this happy to see Sasori sensei.

Like Hyuuga and all other Waker's Pearl candidates, they had to forget their first names and be called by their last names.

It was soon animal anatomy and psychology class led by an Akatsuki member named Juugo, a class Hyuuga actually enjoys but isn't really good at, when it comes to memorization of body parts.

Plus, she was already so rattled by the unexpected assault on her and her father who was ridiculed as "incompetent" for raising a loser like her.

Would it be weird to say that she was more scared to talk with these smiling, innocent looking girls than the White Zetsu or even Sasori?

To the little Hyuuga who lost her name, the girls' bright smiles hid a glinting dagger that tore at her crippling skin and drew out thick, hot tears.

After Juugo sensei's class, it was lunch time. Soon a throng of girls gathered around the three musketeers who were the cause of Hyuuga's heart break and silent tears. Like a widespread fire, soon the coldness of their scrutinizing eyes transferred into the other girls as they whispered about things and giggle as if they just shared the funniest joke.

She was pretty sure that they were talking about her, because they didn't even care to turn their gaze away politely when she caught them in the middle of gossiping. She was the one to turn her heated face away in unknown embarrassment, and the girls would guffaw as if she was dancing without clothes. They were like wolves who can easily sniff out the weakest in the pack, and they spotted her delicate heart and vulnerable self esteem.

The Hyuuga girl was never good at making conversation with girls in her tribe back home. She would hesitate because of her fear that she will bore her peers with her mediocrity. Her topics like the sweet smelling grass that delivers gooey pus that healed a baby bird's broken wing were too bland to attract an attentive ear. So her wavering personality made her always miss the right time to say something. It was a matter of time when she became alone when the other girls frolic in the meadows and pick flowers and play. That was why she enjoyed ceremonial work, because she can participate without having to say anything.

But there was something much more vicious about these girls who were the Waker's Pearl candidates. The girls back in the tribe would leave her alone. But Hyuuga cannot dispel this fear that her fellow candidates were plotting an insidious mischief.

Then she heard a familiar voice.

"Hey! Cut it out!"

It was Haruno. The girls who were chattering and murmuring about things Hyuuga would rather not know hushed. Haruno was already the senseis' favorite because of her diligence and brains in class and talent in controlling chakra in the training grounds. Since the senseis were the ones who gave out grades and estimated each candidate's progress, Haruno was both admired and envied as the candidate with the highest potential. Also, everyone of course knew that she was the only one to be brought to the Realm by no one else other than the First Waker, Uzumaki sama. Nobody even got close to having a one on one interaction with any of the Wakers.

"It looks like you're definitely living up to your aristocratic names, Sato, Takahashi, Ito!"

"Ha...Haruno."

"What will happen if I tell one of the senseis that you're disrupting the class atmosphere. That'll make you look really good, huh?"

As Sato passed Hyuuga, she shoved her back with her right shoulder and whispered in her ear, "Keep hiding behind Haruno, Hyuuga. That's how pathetic you are."

She may be weak. She may not be as smart as others or strong or fast. But that doesn't mean she doesn't have pride.

"Hyuuga, wait!"

She ran off, and as she kept running, she could hear the girls' laughter and Haruno calling her name. It didn't matter to her that she was going to miss lunch. It would be torture to go to the cafeteria when every girl saw her weakness already. She wasn't so hungry anyway. So she plopped herself in a corner of the botanical garden of the palace and cried and cried.

She didn't really care if her eyes turned puffy and she was developing a headache as she sat there.

But she felt a presence and as she raised her eyes, she saw a tall man who stood against the sunlight. Her tiny crouched form drowned in dark shadows.

* * *

 _A few minutes ago_

Uchiha Sasuke finally got the annoying Deidara off his back. He vaguely wondered about Deidara's obsession with giving fashion recommendations that he didn't even ask for and stalking him with a camera in his spare time when he is not making clay puppets.

"You always wear black like you're going to a funeral! Do you know what a blasphemy it is?"

Now that Uchiha thinks about it, there were rumors that Sasori was making real-life size figurines and occasionally invites Deidara to ask for the doll's wardrobe advice.

Who knows if they have a creepy rendition of an inanimate Uchiha Sasuke in their basement.

Unaware that his cold, beautiful master was slowly fingering his katana Kusanagi, Deidara went on to enumerate the types of colors and fabrics that would enhance his alabaster skin, chiseled jaw and shapely throat, and eyes that shone like volcanic glass. It was such a waste to an artist like him that someone with Uchiha's aesthetically pleasing face and proportions would go around sulking in his minimalistic black suit.

"Deidara."

"Huh? What?"

"Your camera is missing its lens."

"What?! Hell, fuck?! How did that happen? And I just paid my two months salary on my baby! Fuuuccck!"

And off the beauty and fashion obsessed clay puppet master nin vanished to search every nook and cranny for his overpriced camera lens that can even capture the subject's "pores."

When Deidara was out of sight, the Uchiha slowly withdrew his left hand from underneath his long cape and looked inside his palm with emotionless eyes.

 _Crack-_

And there went Deidara's two months' worth of Akatsuki pension. As soon as he wrapped his long fingers around the glass, he immediately pulverized the 3mm glass lens into shimmering dusts of crystal with little effort. He shook the pixie dust off his hand and idly looked around.

He must've gotten quite soft, he thought. If it was the past Uchiha who had yet to kill his brother, he would have thoughtlessly driven the blond Akatsuki into a paralysis with his sharingan.

 _Sniff-_

As he turned, his long black cape whirled, and far away in the corner of the glass walled botanical garden, he saw a tiny girl. She was burying her head in her arms that were propped on her bony knees.

It was lunchtime for the Waker's Pearl candidates, but she looked like she has been sitting there by herself in the corner for quite a while.

Could it be that she found out that this is one of his secret places to hang out by himself? Then that was going to be very problematic. If it was just her, he can place a genjitsu that manipulates her memory, but if she already dispersed this information about the Second Waker's hiding spot...He would have to move the botanical garden to a completely different location where none of the teenage hormone crazy girls or deranged puppet molders can find him.

But he was not willing to easily relinquish his favorite spot to catch up on reading and occasionally nap under the sunlight that penetrated through the glass ceiling.

So he stood right in front of the little girl, patiently waiting for her to show some reaction that can tell him the next course of action.

And when the little girl finally noticed his presence and raised her head, his eyes blinked wide in surprise.

Shining, wet ivory eyes with a light purple sheen. If there was such thing as lavender pearls, he was sure that they would look like the orbs of the obviously distressed child.

It was the Hyuuga he saved from wild wolves and brought to the Realm himself. It was his first and so far his last time to ever personally escort a candidate to the Heart of the Realm. Usually the Akatsukis would be in charge of that burden. They did it for years, even before he became the Waker himself. He didn't recognize her first because she got a short bowl hair cut with slightly long side hair that framed her round face.

Now the question was...did this Hyuuga know who he was? If she did, then...

"Me..messenger sama!"

"Hm?"

She wiped her eyes with the back of her sleeved arm.

"Messenger sam-sama, did Zetsu se-sensei a-ask for me?"

"...No."

"The-then, I-I'm so sorry, but...c-can you tell nobody that you sa-saw me here?"

Uchiha was actually quite surprised, pleasantly surprised by the Hyuuga girl's little request. That was actually what he wanted to ask her. Even for someone as remorseless as Uchiha, it didn't feel right that he would place a genjitsu on a girl whom he brought to the Realm himself and was miserable for it. He was going to see if she was the type to go around and run her mouth about how she saw the Second Waker in person before he decides what to do.

"...I won't."

He said briefly.

" _A-a-arigato gojai...gojai..."_ But she couldn't complete her words because suddenly seeing the man who saved her from the darkness made her heart well in relief and cry again.

He didn't say anything as he stared down at her.

Since he did bring her because of her ocular powers, he did feel a little guilty for her current predicament. It was obvious to anyone that the six year old didn't decide to be the Waker's Pearl candidate out of her volition, but he still brought her because if he didn't, she was likely to die in the mountains where she was abandoned anyways.

Now he was wondering if he should've just let her follow her parents.

And as her sniffling calmed down, the sound of her hiccups abated and silence fell in the botanical garden.

The little Hyuuga expected herself to be alone and then carefully raised her red eyes. But the presence of a large, warm body made her look sideways. And she saw Messenger sama sitting by her side on the stone tiles and saying nothing.

'He...He's still here?' The girl wondered as she stared up at the tall man's profile. The filtered sunlight fell on his midnight black hair, his high ridged nose, and aristocratic cheekbones, as he sat still like a statue. His eyes were closed, and the sunlight cast a long shadow underneath his eyelashes that looked like crow feathers.

"...What are you staring at?"

"Ah!"

'How strange...How did he know...'

"How-how did you?"

"You make it obvious. Anyone can tell." He said in his low, slightly gravelly voice that took away the harshness of his rather curt personality.

Other girls might have preferred him to be more soft spoken since he had such looks and beautiful voice, but Hyuuga actually liked it. It reminded her of her father's personality very much.

"Usu-usually pe-people leave me alone wh-when they see me like this."

"Do you want me gone?" He asked, but he made no move as he stared down at her.

"No-no-no, Messenger sama! Of course not! It's just that..." Tears started to fall on her little hands. "I do-don't know why, but I-I can't sto-stop crying when someone's nice to me. So it ma-made them go away..."

She forced a smile but the tears were still there.

Speechless at the little girl's words, the tall young man finally opened his lips, "I'm...being nice?"

At his incredulous tone, the girl widened her eyes and looked at him eagarly, "Ye-yes, Messenger sama! I-I'm still crying, bu-but you didn't tell me to shut up or-or leave!"

After listening to her, he then nodded in quiet acceptance as if she finally made sense. "Your standards are quite low."

"Ye-yes?"

"You missed lunch." He said it without a tone of accusation. He was simply stating a fact.

"Oh, yes..." She didn't tell him the reason why she skipped going to the cafeteria and decided to cry in the botanical garden. And he didn't prod her for answers or explanations. The little Hyuuga can't help but start liking this strange man's company more and more.

Maybe, hopefully, maybe, this tall, mysterious, and handsome messenger sama will tolerate being with a sore thumb like her!

Strangely, him not asking for an explanation made it easier for her to tell him her sad story.

"The-there were some girls...and they said something about me not having a family..."

She didn't know what else to say. And her stupid tongue just won't let her speak quickly enough! She was sure she was boring her company.

Her eyes flickered in surprise as the man broke the awkward silence, "It...sounds unpleasant."

She weakly shook her head.

He looked down at her. "What did you say to them?"

"Umm...Nothing, messenger sama." She didn't even realize that her stuttering got a lot better. "I," she laughed soundlessly, but it looked a lot sadder than her tears, "I...was never...good at ta-talking back."

He then shifted his gaze to a running stone fountain in the middle of the garden and nodded. He didn't tell the girl, but he actually thought she had pretty good vocabulary for a ten year old, and she talked and responded like a lady of high bearing despite her nomad childhood.

But it didn't mean that he was going to in any way interfere for her. Being a Waker's Pearl means living a life of survival, so she should get used to such petty bullies now or later.

He rose from his seat and gently tapped the dust that floated in the air from his knee. As he rose to his full height, he looked down at the girl from the corner of his eye. "I got to go."

"Oh, yes, messenger sama! Th-thank you for being with me!"

"...Next class should be Deidara's."

"Oh, proper etiquette and tea class! Yes, it's actually my favorite class!"

"...Really?"

"Yes! De-Deidara sensei can be-be a harsh critic and he does-does hit us, but I really like his teaching!"

"... _Sooka."_ The tall man looked like he was making a remark to himself.

"I...I better go! Thank you so much, messenger sama!"

The little girl smiled brightly at the man who was still handsome despite his glum expression.

"... _Matte."_

As she turned to face him, she saw him throw an object toward her. She made a very clumsy catch, as the round soft thing slipped from her grasp, but she avoided dropping it by hugging it with her elbows.

She looked at the thing; it was delicately wrapped in pink parchment paper and decorated with painted hearts. Her eyebrows rose in surprise, since she never imagined Messenger sama to carry around such feminine object in his dark, bulky clothes.

When she tentatively raised her eyes, he nodded, giving her permission to open it.

She unwrapped the gift, the first gift she ever got, and she gasped. She covered her open mouth with her right hand as she stared wide-eyed at the content-a freshly baked seed bun with homemade red bean paste, and a bread she didn't see before that had a swirling pattern. Her button nose approached the swirling bread and sniffed; it smelt like sweet spices.

The tall man turned his back on her and spat out the words, "I found it on the ground. Take it or throw it away."

"Me-messenger sama, but..!" Even though she was hungry, she couldn't possibly accept such gift when it was kind, patient messenger sama who she should thank.

Then they both heard a young girl's voice from the entrance, "Hyuuga! Where are you?"

"Haruno!"

Hyuuga turned and Haruno was running towards her. Haruno was surprised. She didn't see Hyuuga smiling brightly like that ever.

"Hyuuga, what are you doing here? Deidara sensei is going to be furious if he finds out that you're going to be tardy!"

"Ah...Haruno, I," Hyuuga turned her head back to give her final thanks to the kind messenger sama, but her eyes widened in shock.

"Hyuuga, what are you looking at?" The pink haired girl impatiently looked at the spot where her eyes were glued, but there was nothing.

"He's...gone."

"What?"

"No-nothing, Haruno chan! Let's go!"

She hurriedly rewrapped the two precious bread rolls with the parchment paper and tucked it to her chest.

"What is that, Hyuuga? Did someone give it to you?"

Haruno asked as they ran along the hallways. Hyuuga was really thankful for having such a kind friend like Haruno. Just because Haruno was the star student, it didn't mean that she will be safe from Deidara sensei's hysterics if she comes late to class. But she was risking getting a beating with a stick just to look for her.

"Ye-yes, he-"

"Now there you are!"

Her mouth clamped shut and the two girls froze as they saw Deidara seething before them. He was already in a foul mood since he cannot find his precious camera lens that he saved his pension for. And he didn't even get the chance to use his baby on the Uchiha!

"You have the audacity to be late to my class. Haruno, that's ten points deduction of "Personal Conduct" for you!"

"Aww, Deidara sensei!"

"Enough. Go to class, Haruno," His keen eyes shifted to the shivering girl, "Hyuuga! What is that you have in your chest?"

"Ah..." She recoiled, but she wasn't fast or nimble enough to stop Deidara from snatching off the pretty package and look into the contents.

"You know that snacking is strictly forbidden!" He was about to toss the bread on the ground and stomp on it with his heel, but he felt a gentle touch on his shoulder.

Hyuuga's pure white eyes widened in surprise. Haruno already went inside class, so she didn't get to see the sight of a black crow that gracefully landed on Deidara sensei's left shoulder and pecked on his temple. In its black beak was a piece of paper wrapped in a red thread.

"What the..." Deidara shot alternating glances at both the crow on his shoulder and the wide-eyed Hyuuga. He then cleared his throat with a slight cough and took the piece of paper that the crow delivered to him.

As he skimmed through the strip of paper, he gave the little Hyuuga a curious look. Then to Hyuuga's surprise, his expression softened a lot although he didn't seem so happy when he crumbled the paper and swallowed it.

'It must be really important...I heard that sometimes ninjas have to swallow confidential documents, but I never..."

"Hyuuga!"

"Ye-ye-yes, Deidara sensei!"

He tossed the wrapped bread rolls back to her.

"Go to class. You will also get 10 points of deduction from your "Personal Conduct" grade."

Her eyes looked like they were going to pop off. That was it? No corporal punishment? AND he was going to let her bring the sweets in the Etiquette class? Did Deidara sensei eat something weird during lunch time?

"What are you standing there for? Do you want me to take it back?"

"No-no-no, sensei!" And in fear that he'll change his mind, she ran into the Etiquette classroom.

Soon class started. After giving them a detailed demonstration, Deidara made the girls brew a cup of white tea in front of class, one by one.

He took a sip of the thirty nineth girl's tea.

Then, _whacck!_

"Ahh! Deidara sensei!"

His infamous cherry tree stick slapped the tender palms of the thirty nineth girl.

"You forgot to warm up the tea cup, Hamura! How many times did I tell you that you should pay attention to the china as well!"

He then wrote on his notepad, "Twenty points off for Hamura. Next!"

"Deidara sensei!"

"What?!"

He snapped back in irritation.

Takahashi raised her hand, "I saw Hyuuga eating something in class!"

All eyes went to Hyuuga who blushed profusely and shivered, bread crumbs on her pouty lips.

Deidara's eyes, outlined in dark kohl, narrowed like a pather's. "Hyuuga, you must be awfully confident of your brewing skills. Come over."

As she nervously swallowed a lump in her throat and approached Deidara, she heard stifled giggles from the girls who were lined behind her.

Deidara stretched his hand out and ordered in a haughty, cold voice, "Your tea."

As she shivered, she bowed and followed Deidara's demonstration of brewing the white tea as faithfully as possible in front of everyone.

Her teacher's face didn't betray any expression as he watched her every move without words.

When she was done, she handed the cup of white tea to her sensei with both hands.

His eyes that looked like they were going to snap into batshit crazy at any given moment widened in pleasant surprise as he took a sniff of the tea.

When he drank it, he merely closed his eyes. To the surprise of everyone present, his lips curved into an elegant smile.

"This is a pass. Good job, Hyuuga."

She can feel the uncomfortable heat spreading all over her face. She can feel her own blush. Did she just get complimented? By a teacher? In front of the girls who always looked down at her?

"Bu-but, sensei! Hyuuga just ate sweets in class!" The same girl who taddletaled on her, Takahashi raised her voice in disbelief and indignation.

Deidara's eyes snapped in the direction of Takahashi, "If your in class conduct is so impeccable, why did you botch the tea's peach flower flavor?"

"Tha-that!"

"Wasn't it because you were busy passing notes in class that you didn't care to sort the tea leaves?"

"Se-sensei!"

"Hyuuga made up for her misconduct in class with her tea. It had all the right notes and flavors intact, and the temperature was just right."

But he didn't forget to turn a sharp eye at Hyuuga, "But Hyuuga, Takahashi is right. Don't count on your luck too much. I might not be so generous next time."

"Ye-yes, sensei!"

She bowed gratefully, her back bent in a perpendicular angle to show her gratitude.

When class ended, the excitement still didn't vanish from her eyes. She got complimented. She! She was good at something!

And that was how she survived her first week of being the Waker's Pearl candidate.

But her real suffering happened that night.

* * *

"Where did you leave your shoes?"

The barefooted little girl raised her tear drenched face from her cupped hands and stared up into a pair of pitch dark eyes. Their black fire was so different from her weak, white fog.

The tall man noticed how he happens to bump into this little thing at her most inconvenient moments. It was like her misfortunes drag him to make his undesirable debut in her sad, lonely life.

It was late at night when owls croon in the distance that he stumbled onto the Hyuuga once again. It was strange. She should be on the candidates' bedtime curfew, but she was out, shaking in the cold and dark. He activated his sharingan and saw what the dark had obscured from normal sight-the back of her heels were bleeding and caked with dirt as if she was dragged out of her room and her barefeet scraped the floor. She was also in her flimsy white nightgown.

Impatience evident in his voice, he asked again, "Where did you leave your shoes?"

"I-I..I...didn't le-leave the-them, me-me-messenger sama…"

His frown deepened. Her stuttering got a lot worse.

After a moment of silence, he asked, "What happened?"

Convulsive tears racked her entire body, but she found it difficult, no, impossible to get the words out. The shock of what just transpired in her bedroom was too much that her already delicate, fragile heart was shaking with self doubt. She wished that this was all just a nightmare.

But somehow, despite it all, the tall Messenger sama remained rooted and made no move to walk away from this girl who was making things a lot more dramatic and difficult than he wanted. The little girl peered up at him as the tears that blurred her vision dropped down her cheeks.

Under the full moon that glowed with pure, shimmering light, the tall black haired man stared down at her with dark eyes devoid of emotions or judgment.

The moon lit his translucent, fair skin on a mystical aura that set his entire being apart from the world, and Hyuuga thought how she has never seen someone who looked so good under the moonlight. The humidity of the night air and the cold temperature enhanced the man's natural beauty.

He didn't say anything, but fear of loss seized her when he turned his back on her. He took a few steps. He stopped when she made no movement to follow him, but continued to walk when he heard her timid footsteps on the pebbled path. It took her a few minutes to realize that they were going to the direction of the infirmary.

Then slowly the fog that clouded her mind cleared up, and she remembered step by step what had happened before she got chased out of the dorm.

 _"Hyuuga, it seems that we were a bit wrong about you."_

 _"Wh-wh-what?"_

 _"You are not useless after all. You got picky Deidara sensei to acknowledge you."_

 _It was the same three girls who picked on her-Ito, Sato, and Takahashi. There were other two girls, Fumiwara and Hamura._

 _"Oh-oh, a-arigato!" Hyuuga's round cheeks blushed into a color of fresh autumn apples at the unexpected compliment. Maybe they weren't so bad after all?_

 _When Takahashi said "I'm sorry about ratting out on you, Hyuuga," she almost could cry of happiness._

 _"So…" with a drawl, the tallest girl Sato began to go right to the point, "we were thinking that maybe you can teach us one or two about making tea."_

 _"I-I-I would be delighted to!"_

 _Unsuspecting, Hyuuga gladly opened her room to the five girls who went in._

 _Treating them as perfect guests, Hyuuga pulled out a small table and cushions and pillows for them to sit on. While she went in and out of her room and the communal bathroom and fountain to prepare the tea, the five girls sat in the middle of her singular room and surveyed her plain furniture-bed, desk, and chair. When she finished setting up the table, they were strangely quiet, seeming to glance at each other without saying a word._

 _Even when they didn't even say "thank you," Hyuuga didn't suspect anything unusual or off-putting about them._

 _"What is this?"_

 _Hyuuga felt momentarily stung when she saw Takahashi suddenly open her mini refrigerator and pull out the pink parchment package. Even though she had nothing to hide, it didn't detract from the discomfort of having her privacy violated so casually. She tried to think that Takahashi did it out of desire to help her set the tea, but was it really necessary for her to pull out her things and show them off to everyone else?_

 _"It's...its'..."_

 _"Wait a second!" A girl named Fumiwara jumped up and seized the package from Takahashi._

 _Takahashi growled, "Gosh, Fumiwara, what is wrong with you?"_

 _Instead of answering her, Fumiwara whirled and yelled at the surprised girl, "Hyuuga, how did you get this?!"_

 _Shocked by the series of events, Hyuuga went back into the state of panic-freezing into silence._

 _Full of rage, Fumiwara almost raised her voice into a terrifying screech. "This is the exact package I gave as a gift to the Second Waker sama!"_

 _At her words, Hamura glared at the Hyuuga who couldn't do anything but shudder, "What? Then there is no way you could've got this!"_

 _"You stole this, didn't you?"_

 _"Say something, Hyuuga!"_

 _"I-I…"_

 _She hated that whenever she is stuck in a fight-flight moment, her body and mind would always succumb to the worst option-freeze. Whenever she freezes, she just wishes time could flow by but just because she remains still doesn't mean she is not screaming at the pain of their words._

 _"It seems that she won't confess unless we do something drastic."_

 _"It's your fault, Hyuuga. You have nobody to blame but yourself!"_

 _And like that they pushed the girl off into the dorm hallway, out of her own room and locked themselves in._

 _"L-l-let me in! Pl-please le-let me in!"_

 _She pounded on her door, her own door and even pushed on it, but it won't budge. She hated her weakness, she hated her pushable tiny frame, she hated that the best she can do is implore them to show mercy._

 _Then like a shining angel, someone appeared by her side._

 _"Hyuuga, what is going on?"_

 _"Haruno, I-I…"_

 _"You better come out, before I blow up the door and beat you into pulp!"_

 _As soon as they recognized the famous voice of Haruno, who earned the nickname "Fighting Lotus of the Realm," the five girls begrudgingly opened Hyuuga's door._

 _Haruno raised her voice in disgust, "Wow, there were five of you?"_

 _Ito kept her purple eyes fixed on Haruno, ignoring the shivering Hyuuga, who is actually the center of this conflict, "Haruno, we have our reasons."_

 _Takahashi decided that it was the best time to side with Ito, "Yeah, Hyuuga stole Fumiwara's gift! She's a rotten thief!"_

 _Fumiwara had tears on her fair, freckled face and burst into a convulsive sob. Hamura held her by the shoulders, consoling her "Don't cry," "don't cry." It was actually quite a tender scene._

 _"It was a gi-gift for Se-second Waker sama, bu-but Hyuuga stole it!"_

 _Haruno tried to talk back when she was shut down when Takahashi showed the decisive proof-pink parchment paper wrapped seed bun roll and cinnamon rolls._

 _"...Where did you find this?" Haruno enunciated each word as she dared any of them to lie to her._

 _"In Hyuuga's mini fridge!" Fumiwara then turned her tear filled eyes toward Hyuuga who winced at the sound of her voice, "Say something, Hyuuga! Don't just stand there like an idiot!"_

 _"Hyuuga…" Haruno turned to the shivering girl, her emerald eyes both stern and concerned, "Is it true?"_

 _Hyuuga entreated Haruno, her only friend, to believe in her, "I-I didn't! I did-didn't steal an-anything! I-it wa-was a gift!"_

 _"She's lying through her teeth, Haruno!"_

 _"You're a despicable, compulsive liar! Who would give a present to a loser like you?"_

 _This statement was from the same girl who told Hyuuga in the beginning that she actually might not be "useless."_

 _"And how did Fumiwara's gift to Waker sama end up in your room?"_

 _"Yeah, who gave this so-called "gift," Hyuuga? Give us the person's name!"_

 _"He…!" Just when Hyuuga raised her voice to tell them that it was kind messenger sama who gave her the gift, she stopped._

 _She remembered Zetsu sensei's words, "No matter what, don't ever let them known who brought you here. "_

 _Then another thought passed like a flying sparrow. If they find out about messenger sama...does that mean messenger sama will get in trouble for bringing her to the Realm? Will he also get in trouble for helping her and giving her a present that was the source of all her pain right now?_

 _What if the object of these girls' wrath and hatred becomes messenger sama? The only one who didn't find her habit of crying an annoying sign of weakness?_

 _Haruno's voice then snapped her out of her thoughts. "Say something, Hyuuga! Who gave you the gift?"_

 _Hyuuga who was bowing her head finally raised her face and looked Haruno in the eye._

 _"Haruno…"_

 _Haruno never really thought that Hyuuga was capable of such expression. The little girl who always averted her eyes and could never complete her sentences without stuttering or fading away suddenly looked like she had something to protect. What could it be?_

 _Meanwhile, Hyuuga was thinking, 'Is it weird that I feel the need to protect? Me, who can't barely make three shadow dopplegangers? Me, who struggles with textbook examples of chakra utilization? Is it weird that I want to protect...messenger sama?'_

 _"I...I ne-never li-lied, Haruno, but…" she lowered her pale white eyes to the ground, "I-I c-can't tell you either."_

 _Before Haruno can intercede, Takahashi stepped in and pushed Hyuuga to the ground, "Liar!"_

 _Then suddenly the five girls started ganging up on the little girl and dragged her across the hallway where other girls came out from their own rooms and started staring._

 _The hallway wasn't that long, but to Hyuuga, it felt like a million years, being forced to stand on her feet and dragged like a cow to a slaughter house. The five girls were all ganged up on her, using their hands and feet to push the little girl as if they were rolling a boulder out of their dorm._

* * *

Long story short, they kicked her out of the dorm and locked the entrance door on her. When one of the male Akatsukis heard the commotion and raised his voice, "What is happening?" Hyuuga ran away from the dorm compound. Not because of any fault she committed, but because of the overwhelming shame she felt at her state of being dragged out like some livestock and fear that she will be interrogated this time by a teacher.

She finished her story when she was done with wrapping her scratched and bleeding heels with a clean gauze in the infirmary. She breathed a sigh of relief, letting her tired legs rest on the clean infirmary bed.

She wasn't sure if messenger sama was listening to her, because he was staring out of the window. The moon was being generous with its light by pouring its heavenly beams on his face, dark hair, and broad shoulders. When she didn't say anything more, he turned to her and stared with large, indecipherable dark eyes. His pale lips that illuminated under the moonlight made his face look both serene and otherworldly.

He finally opened his mouth and asked with his low, calm voice "Why didn't you tell them the truth?"

"I...I didn't want to get you in trouble, messenger sama. After all you did for me, I-"

Suddenly in a flash of an eye, the tall man appeared in front of her face, sitting on the mattress. She stared into his hypnotizing dark eyes as he let out a guttural voice that sent tingling shivers at the end of her hands and toes.

"You? You, get me in trouble?" His voice was both amused and derisive, doubtful of what she was saying.

His translucent, shapely lips drew into a devilish smirk, "Do enlighten me. How could you get me in trouble?"

"I…" Hyuuga's snow-white eyes reminded him of those of a frightened kitten.

But he wasn't prepared at all to hear what she was going to say next.

"Ze-Zetsu se-sensei told me that I should never tell anyone a-about you, messenger sama. So I…"

Hyuuga started poking her index fingers together and glance at a far corner of the infirmary.

"I didn't want anyone to think that you sto-stole from one-one of the Waker samas, so…"

When she trailed off as she often would when she is put to spot, the tall man stared down at her, deep in his own thoughts.

Unquestioning loyalty. Willingness to sacrifice herself.

They were traits that he personally disdained but were nonetheless desirable in a Waker's Pearl. If only she had more faith in herself...

"What if," he sat down on the infirmary mattress right next to the girl.

He then turned his face toward her so he was directly looking into her eyes, "What if I did steal from one of the Wakers?"

Her eyes expanded like pure white ceramic saucers. He smirked. Now what was she going to do, he wondered. Somehow he developed this weird penchant for tormenting the little girl because she is so naive and teasable.

"My-my…" she gripped on her nightgown, and surprisingly she resumed in a calm tone, "My fa-father told me-me to ne-never go back on my words."

"So-so I wo-won't tell them about you, messenger sama."

He was speechless for a second.

"Bu-but!"

She resolutely turned her face away as she kept playing with her fingers, "Pl-please don't do that aga-again, messenger sama! St-stealing is...is-is ba-ba-bad!"

He crossed his arms and tilted his head to the other side as he continued observing her as if she was some new phenomenon like a blue sunrise or a roaring bird.

His silky dark hair slid from his forehead to the side of his temple as he peered into her blushing face.

When she tentatively glanced at his direction from the corner of her eye, she yelped "eep!" and quickly covered her red face with her hands.

She didn't know that this handsome messenger sama was staring at her so intently like she was something both interesting and weird.

He sighed. What was he doing to a little kid? He rose from the mattress, "I said "what if," remember?"

"So-so-so you didn't steal anything, messenger sama?"

"No." He said just that and nothing more as if additional detail was something that stretched beyond the borders of a land called "Necessary."

He walked toward the infirmary door, and Hyuuga followed him. Soon they were outside in the dark again.

"I-I-I'm glad, messenger sama!"

The man frowned as he looked down at her from the corner of his eye. What did she have anything to be glad about? It was he who got her in trouble in first place. If he didn't give her the stupid pastry given by another fangirl, she wouldn't be out in the night, downtrodden and barefoot.

But the girl's nonsense didn't stop there.

"A-a-and…"

He emitted a sigh that ruffled his dark strands. What now? Thank him for making her a social pariah within a week?

"Th-thank you…for not stealing…"

If she was more eloquent, she would've have worded it differently. Because what she really meant was 'Thank you for not breaking my trust. For not demolishing this beautiful picture I drew of you. Thank you for being the best person I can possibly imagine you to be. Thank you for not disappointing me.'

And the man barely silenced the sound of his breath caught up in his chest, when the little girl said this, without stuttering.

"Thank you for everything."

He always thought that her stuttering was annoying, and she would be a lot less annoying if she stopped stuttering.

Now he wasn't so sure anymore.

Because when she speaks without stuttering, the way she talks is sweet, indulgent, but it had this unmistakably sorrowful note of finality he can't put his finger on.

Now he would rather have her stutter and blubber like the little fool she was.

He made a noncommittal grunt and walked in the direction to the dorm. When she followed the messenger sama, she saw Haruno and Zetsu sensei(s) waiting for her in the entrance.

She rushed forward to Haruno who caught the sight of her and ran towards her.

"Hyuuga, where were you?"

"Ha...Haruno..."

"Little poo, don't ever run off into the dark like that again, okay?"

" _Sum..Sumimaseng, sensei_..."

When Hyuuga looked behind her, she saw nothing.

* * *

Looking at the chaos that is Hyuuga's room, Haruno asked "Are you sure you don't need my help, Hyuuga?"

Hyuuga was kneeling on the floor, picking up books that the bullies unceremoniously pulled from her drawer and thrown to the ground.

They truly knew how to ravage her room. They probably suspected that she had more things that she stole, but left when they found nothing.

Even her blankets and pillows weren't immune from their toxic suspicion and grabby hands.

She made a feeble smile, "I-I'm o-okay, Haruno. I-I can manage on my own."

"You sure?"

"Ye-ye-yes. Do-don't worry."

"Zetsu sensei is still mad that you won't tell him anything, you know...I can tell him what those hussies did to you if you want."

"No-no-no, Ha-Haruno! I-I re-really app-appreciate it, bu-but I-I don't want-"

Hyuuga already has been bullied before, so she knew that an adult, even a well-meaning teacher, can exacerbate the situation with bullies if he gets involved. If Zetsu sensei explicitly takes Hyuuga's side and scolds the girls, they will never forgive her for inflicting such humiliation on them. They still believe that she stole Fumiwara's gift to the Second Waker.

In the other hand, if he somehow implies that Hyuuga might be at fault, the bullies would feel more empowered to torment her.

Haruno sighed and combed through her light pink hair with her fingers, "Okay, okay...If that's what you want, I guess."

Thinking that Hyuuga might want some solitude, Haruno finally relented and turned, "Okay...well, you know where my room is, right? Just let me know if you need anything."

Satisfied to see the Hyuuga nod, she closed the door behind her, and Hyuuga can hear the sound of footsteps retreating down the hallway.

When Haruno finally left, Hyuuga sighed as she took in the sorry state of her bedroom. She would have to stay up for another two hours to repair her room and restore her destroyed homework assignments.

Then _zsuuuu_ -

She froze.

She thought she saw something dart underneath her toppled desk. Like something skirting on the carpeted floor.

'Oh no,' she gasped, 'did the bullies leave something as a pay back? A scorpion? Or...'

Her tiny hands and knees trembled as she crawled to the desk. Underneath the desk was a textbook that was splayed open.

And underneath the textbook was a long, scaly tail.

"!"

She forced her mouth to clam shut with her hands as she saw the tiny reptile disappear underneath the book and then poke its triangular face outside the pages.

"A...lizard?"

It was a tiny white lizard with a long tail and beady green eyes. When it revealed itself under the florescent light, the white scales gleamed with minty green and at times orange pink depending on how the light hit its slithering body. The skinny creature was as long as her entire hand, from wrist to the tip of her middle finger.

Hyuuga approached the lizard till their noses were almost touching, "Whe-where did you come from?"

As if telling her to not fuss him with questions, the lizard merely stuck out its thin pink tongue and quickly lapped on the tip of her nose.

She stood up and laughed, "He-he-he, it tick-tickles!"

The lizard cocked its head to another side and kept staring at the little girl with its beady green eyes that looked like it was trying to communicate something.

"Haha, nobody is supposed to keep pets here, unless they are jutsu-related you know."

She then tried to pick up the lizard, "I should take you to one of the senseis..."

But to her surprise, the lizard leaped from her hands and jumped onto her mattress.

"Heyyy..."

Although she gave her best look of disapproval, the lizard made no move to vacate her bed. It groggily opened one green eye before settling itself onto the folds of her cotton pillow case that was ripped off from her pillow.

She sighed and went to her toppled desk and placed it back to where it was. Then she placed her desk lamp that fell to the ground on top of the desk and took her seat to work on her homework.

Click

But the desk lamp won't turn on.

Click click click click

No matter how she tried to turn the desk lamp on, it won't work. She checked the outlets, but they seemed fine.

It seemed that the shock of being tossed to the floor broke the desk lamp.

Hyuuga sighed, but she knew she had to redo her homework or else she'll get in big trouble.

After thirty minutes, her eyes started to turn red and tear up in exhaustion because she was squinting too much.

There was just not enough light for her.

Then suddenly she felt the creature crawl on her jammies and slither around her little neck. Its tiny pink tongue softly hissed and lapped on her round cheek.

Petting the reptile's head with her index finger, she whispered, "You weren't asleep?"

The creature blinked its green eyes at her, and she giggled and kept talking, "It's hard to focus. My eyes are really tired, and my lamp is broken."

When she smiled and turned her gaze to the reptile, she froze on spot in sheer terror. Her lips slightly opened. She would have screamed but the sight of the reptile's pink jaw opening in a yawn paralyzed her.

And then the creature dug its bluish fangs at the side of her temple, right next to her left eye.

"Ah!"

When she stood up, she was actually more affected by the surprise than the actual pain of the tiny fangs that punctured on the side of her temple.

She felt tiny drops of blood trickle down from the side of her face, "Wh-why did you...?"

But when she opened her eyes, she gasped. Before her fatigued, blurry eyes opened a whole different world-white silhouettes of moving figures and furniture in other rooms against a black background. Danaka in the room next to hers was lying on bed, stretching her legs, and other girls in other rooms were doing various activities like combing their hair, reading, or even violating curfew by gossiping with their hall mates. The black background was crisscrossed with strange neon green cubic lines, and she can see what's going inside other rooms in its entirety.

Hyuuga remembered what her father told her before he passed away, _You're a Hyuuga, and one day you will wield your own byakugan. And you will know when you have finally activated your own byakugan._

"Is this...an illusion? Or is this really," did she dare say it out loud, "my byakugan?"

She felt for the side of her temples, and she felt slightly protruded veins around her eyes. It wasn't some trick her mind was playing on her. For the first time in her life, she has activated her byakugan. The veins that snapped in protrusion around the side of her eyes were proof.

When she emitted a sigh to ease the tension around her eyes, the vision before was gone, and once again she was enclosed by the ivory walls of the room. Colors came back. She collapsed back in her seat when she was hit by this epiphany. She successfully activated and withdrew her byakugan.

Her fingers carefully touched the spot where the lizard bit her. The blood has stopped dripping, and all she can feel are two minuscule puncture marks, the size of needle points, indented near her eye area. Nobody can really see it unless the person pushes away her dark bangs to take a closer look. The wound was negligible.

"Wow...this...is real…I'm a byakugan user."

While she was zoning off, the lizard slithered up her right leg and settled on her lap like a lap dog. Its green eyes eagerly glittered as if it was waiting for her appraisal.

Thanks to this reptile's vampire kiss that mysteriously turned on her byakugan's switch button, she would never have to depend on a flashlight or a desk lamp again.

She absentmindedly stroked the lizard who hissed in pleasure and whispered, "Who are you?"

* * *

"I completed my mission. The Hyuuga's bloodline limit is activated."

A serpentine voice resonated in the man's ear through a telepathically transmitted chakra sound wave.

Uchiha closed his heavy encyclopedia of bloodline limits and dojutsus.

Of course, the creature would succeed. Uchiha never permits failures from creatures he summoned himself. And it was no ordinary lizard, the one he sent to the Hyuuga's bed chamber.

The creature can unleash extraordinary potential in even the most hopeless looking case by channeling its special chakra through its fangs. The creature happened to tap into the Hyuuga's hidden potential as a dojutsu user by biting on her chakra veins and opened its passage to her bloodline limit.

It took a pretty half of a day for even him to discover, capture, and seal this haughty, priceless lizard under his dominion. Not to mention that many have failed to even catch a glimpse of the draconic creature.

"You want me to keep updates of the Hyuuga, you said."

It was more of a statement than a reaffirmation of an order.

Uchiha made a dismissive shrug even though the creature can't see it, "I have a debt to clear out."

The serpentine voice chuckled in amusement, "The Shadow Waker? The avenger who sold his mortality and soul to kill his brother owes something? And none other than to a orphan?"

A blood red light passed across his dark eyes, as he gave a silent warning to his bestial slave. The icy tension informed the creature that it better not push its luck against this stolid man who is actually the most feared man in the Realm and alternate universes.

"As you wish...master"

And the voice turned off, and the man closed his eyes and lied back on his chair.

* * *

 _Present in Konoha_

It was a pleasant summer afternoon, and after seeing Sasuke off, in other words, seeing Sasuke get dragged out of the house by Naruto, Hinata decided that she should spend her own time practicing by herself.

In a wide courtyard that was situated at the back of the Uchiha Mansion, Hinata was practicing her taijutsu skills on a few wooden dummies that she borrowed from Neji. Due to her shy nature, she really liked this particular courtyard because black bamboo shoots conveniently hid the interior view even for people inside the Uchiha compound. The wind sha shaying by the tall, slender bamboos also offered a sound-proof environment where she can make as much noise as she wants, by breaking the dummies and crying "Ha!".

Up to this day, she was still embarrassed when anybody hears her "battle cry" when she is practicing by herself. Nobody really cared, but to her, the embarrassment was enough that she can't focus on her solo training if she thinks anybody is paying attention to the way she squeaks or goes "Ha-cha!"

During their first year of getting to know each other, fourteen year old Sasuke once asked her why she has the tendency to cry "ha-cha!" when she practices by herself and not when sparring with him. Even though he wasn't saying it to necessarily make fun of her, Hinata blushed so hard and then insisted on practicing in the "Black Bamboo Courtyard" where she won't even let Sasuke come in.

Speaking of Sasuke...

It was a great relief to Hinata that Sasuke didn't know anything more about the Waker's Pearl than the basic information told through fairytales and legends.

She kept a close eye on him, but her keen insight into people's emotions and living with Sasuke told her that he was like every other person in the Shinobi world. Like others, he thinks a Waker is just a master of the mythical genie in a divine pearl. And he certainly doesn't know about the Realm, because if he did...she doesn't even want to think about it.

She was just happy he can finally be free from his ancient past that tormented him so much.

Then Hinata blushed as she remembered what Sasuke said to her back in the mountains streams in the Forest of Death.

 _Where did you leave your shoes?_

'Just like 5010 years ago…' She thought. The wind that blew by played with her long indigo hair.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Masashi Kishimoto sensei does.

 **Warning: Mature sexual content. Sasuke imagines how it would feel like to rape Hinata.** This can very possibly trigger you, so if you are uncomfortable, please skip the present day part of this chapter. It is at the way way bottom. You'll notice right away. This is meant to be a portrait of a character's sexual fantasy, not a justification of rape. Rape is a serious crime and should be addressed in a way that is constructive, full of justice, and respectful of the survivors. In real life, I have absolutely zero tolerance for sexual abuse of any kind, and I am the most unkind and knife-cold as i can be when I hear any sort of justification or glorification of non-consensual rape or scapegoating of victims. This is more like a one-shot than an actual plot on plot chapter.

It is my first attempt to write adult themed stuff, so please take that into consideration.

* * *

 _5010 years ago, at 5 am in one of the numerous training courts of the Waker's Pearl candidates_

The sun still refused to emerge from the mountains, so the sky was still dark but beautiful in its pastel blue glory. The stars have already departed, but the pale shadow of the moon remained smiling down.

"Ow!"

Feeling small fangs penetrate her shoulder, Hyuuga winced in pain as she assumed her fighting stance again. The lizard caught her not paying attention to her posture because for a moment she was so mesmerized by the sky.

The reptilian culprit hissed, "You forgot to put weight into your palms! Stop putting tension on your shoulders! It obstructs the flow of chakra into your hands. How many times do I have to tell you, Hyuuga?"

Ever since the lizard began to talk to her through 'invisible waves,' it insisted on teaching her how to properly utilize chakra during her trainings. So far the lizard has been ruthless in its training, but it did help Hyuuga a lot with its ability to see chakra and freeze or accelerate chakra flow through its fangs.

With a tear forming in her squinting eyes, Hyuuga stuttered apologetically, "Go-Gomen!"

"Now I am really doubting if you mean it when you say 'sorry.'" the lizard hissed maliciously, "I think my time is better spent waiting for the sun to come up as I lie on my favorite rock,"

As the tiny lizard leaped from her shoulder and landed on the ground, it felt a strong tug on its long tail.

"Le-let me go, you pathetic human!" the lizard started splaying its crooked arms and legs in panic as Hyuuga's hands held tight on its tail.

Hyuuga was lying flat on her stomach on the stone floor, refusing to release its tail. She cried, "I-I-I'm so-so sorry, li-lizard san! I-I pro-promise I won't do it ag-again!"

Meanwhile there was a certain girl who was looking from a distance that was far away enough to not be noticed. Hiding behind a tall pine tree, the girl seemed to be around the age of ten and had the brightest red hair that reached down to her hips.

She adjusted her glasses as she stared at what seemed to be a little girl begging to an invisible ghost on the floor, "Who is that crazy Hyuuga doing?"

Unknown to both Hyuuga and the redhead, the lizard can control the frequency of chakra waves and manipulate the earshot of its telepathically transmitted voice. So only Hyuuga can hear the lizard's speech.

Then the redhead recoiled at the sound of a girl's voice behind her, "Hyuuga!" Quickly she hid in the shrubs and vacated the area lest the girls find out that she was spying on one of them.

Soon a pink haired girl, tall for her age and beautiful enough to turn heads, passed through the shrubs and ran up to her white eyed friend.

A smile spread over Hyuuga's face, "Haruno!" The lizard quickly hid itself in the Hyuuga's sleeves.

Unaware of the lizard's existence, Haruno asked "What are you doing here?"

"Oh-oh, I-I was ju-just training a little bit!"

Haruno then looked at Hyuuga's posture, right foot bent forward and her left arm folded over her chest while her other arm stretches out in front of her.

The pink haired girl tilted her head, "But didn't we go over that a month ago? You should've got that hammered into you by now."

Embarrassed of her slow progress, Hyuuga blushed, "I-I-I know, bu-but Hi-Hidan se-sensei to-told me that I sho-should focus on th-the ba-basics."

Haruno then nodded in understanding, "Oh, okay, the basics is foundation to everything we learn, so it makes sense."

"Yakbari Haruno..." Hyuuga smiled and looked at her in admiration, "you're no doubt the star student."

"Stop flattering me, Hyuuga," Haruno then clapped her hands together, "Ah, I forgot for a second! Let's go grab breakfast before the other girls get in!"

At her words, Hyuuga nodded weakly and followed her out of the training grounds. As they passed by the labyrinthine path surrounded by rose bushes, Hyuuga gave her friend a sweet, apologetic smile, "I-I'm sorry, Haruno. If-if it wasn't for me, you would've been so popular…with a lot of friends..."

Haruno's green eyes widened, "Eh? What are you talking about?"

Hyuuga poked her index fingers together, "If-if you-you didn't take my-my side that one time wi-with the girls, then…"

"Nonsense," Haruno interrupted, "it's not like I was ever close with those pricks. Their brains are empty, and they know nothing but themselves. Why would I ever want to be friends with them?"

"Bu-but, they-they spread rum-rumors about you that were false! And it wouldn't have happened if-if you didn't…"

Haruno raised her head up high and talked with cool confidence, "I don't want to receive favors from girls who believe in everything that they hear."

She continued after they picked up their breakfast bentos from the cafeteria booth that stands outside, "And popularity is not the reason I'm here, Hyuuga. I'm here to serve the Second Waker, Uchiha sama. That's the only purpose I left home and came here."

As they both sat on their designated breakfast spot in the grassy hill that overlooks a vast meadow, Hyuuga popped the question she always wanted to ask. "Ho-how do you know how the Waker samas look like, Haruno?"

As she opened her bento box and separated her wooden chopsticks, Haruno remarked, "Oh, yeah! I forgot you came later than the rest of us."

Wondering if she messed up again, Hyuuga asked with a stutter, "Do-does that ma-matter?"

Her green eyes widened in a way that already became familiar to Hyuuga, "Wow, Hyuuga. I sometimes wonder about how you even became a candidate. You know so little!"

Hyuuga made a sheepish grin and bowed her head as she picked her sushi with her wooden chopsticks. Haruno went on to explain,

"It matters a whole lot that you came way later than other girls. All of us, before you, got to see the two Waker Samas in person in the hall during our first conference."

"Wh-when wa-was th-that?"

"That was a week before you came to the Realm. You are the hundredth candidate, the last in line. So many girls were already curious about you."

At her unexpected words, Hyuuga gave her a look of surprise. As she stared at her, Haruno started to chew on the end of her wooden chopstick, a habit she does when she has to say something uncomfortable but true, "But you know...when they found out that you were an orphan...People began to be either disappointed or suspicious that you did something, like lying."

Hyuuga almost choked on her sushi roll, "Bu-but that's not true! I-I never even knew what a Waker's Pearl was!"

Haruno took a bite of her mini egg sandwich and kept talking, "Yeah, that's the weird part. But you still got to be a candidate while hundreds and thousands of girls who prepared all their lives weren't so lucky."

Suddenly feeling ashamed, Hyuuga bowed her head low again, "I...I don't understand…"

"Well, luck is an asset too, so don't feel guilty about it, Hyuuga" Haruno shrugged as she took a sip of from her milk carton, "That's why Takahashi and Fumiwara gang targeted you. Their families had to pour a lot of wealth to make them candidates, so they got butthurt that you were also chosen."

Hyuuga then nodded. "I-I see…It-it makes more sense now…"

Then a question dawned on her mind, "Ha-Haruno, wh-why are you so interested in being a Waker's Pearl?"

Haruno looked at her. And then she stared into the sunrise that breathed gold into the vast straw meadow that looked decrepit and barren in the dark.

The rising sun lit her radiant face with an ethereal glow, and her emerald eyes stared into the horizon without squinting at the light.

"When I was six, my parents told me I was part of the legend of the Waker's Pearl. My date of birth and location all fitted the prophecy of one of the hundred candidates."

'Ahh...Yeah, that's how the girls were chosen…' Hyuuga remembered how Konan sensei explained in her class, the Book of the Waker's Pearl Prophecy that has the list of a hundred girls who were destined to be candidates. But just because the girl's date and location of birth matched the details in the book didn't guarantee her access to the Realm. Most of the times, the girl or her family has to sacrifice a lot of wealth in the name of the Wakers for charity in order for them to accept her as a potential guardian.

Haruno kept talking, "But when I saw the Second Waker sama…" She paused and then blushed as she smiled down at the golden meadow, "Let's just say I wasn't the only girl to...love him the moment ninety nine of us saw him in the orientation hall."

"Wow...he-he must be re-really handsome for you to have fall for him at first sight, Haruno."

"Handsome?!" Hyuuga jumped as she suddenly raised her voice, "He's not just handsome, Hyuuga! He's the most handsomest man you can ever see in your life! You can never mistake him for anyone else, Hyuuga. The minute you see him, you'll know he's the Second Waker!"

Although she knew that Haruno was one of the most practical girls she knew, she couldn't help but feel a nagging sense of doubt at her words, "E-even if I never met him before?"

But Haruno was adamant, "Yeah! He's too handsome and attractive to not notice right away!"

Arguing with Haruno won't get her anywhere, she already knew. "O-o-okay…"

Not wanting to bother her friend who can be impatient sometimes, Hyuuga became quiet and concentrated on taking small bites of her egg white sandwich.

But she couldn't deny her curiosity. Who could be the handsome Second Waker sama all the girls were gushing and swooning over? Including the star student and school princess, Haruno? Haruno also had absolutely no immunity to the charms of the Second Waker, it seemed.

Then suddenly Haruno shrieked, "Oh gosh, we only have ten minute left!"

So they closed their bento boxes and scrambled up from the grass and ran to their respective classes.

* * *

'Why do I always bump into this Hyuuga again?'

This was the Uchiha's thought as he grumbled and crossed his arms as he hid behind one of the marble pillars. He didn't even need to hide. This entire palace and its land was his own damn house. But here he was, hiding behind the pillar, waiting for the Hyuuga girl to pass by so he can enjoy his afternoon stroll once again.

The arcaded stone corridor provided cool, dark, pleasant shade for the students who were running to the communal bathhouse after their arduous training lessons under the burning sun.

Hyuuga, as always, was running late because she was almost always the student who is way behind others in terms of physical training. The penalty for not catching up to Hidan's military boot camp style training was running fifty laps around the main courtyard.

Her reptilian friend who coiled around Hyuuga's neck grumbled, "That teacher who uses too much wax on his hair, he never goes easy on you."

The girl, who was the one sweating and panting, actually had the spirit to make a weak smile, "Bu-but Hi-HiHi-Hidan sensei wa-was gen-generous this time. He-he ack-acknowledged my improvement in chakra us-usage."

The lizard scoffed, which she can tell by it breathing blue mist from its tiny nostrils, "By making you run forty five laps. Are you sure he doesn't secretly hate you?"

"It-it's all all thanks to you, li-lizard chan! If-if we did-didn't do-do those morning practices, it-it would've taken me way longer to learn the same thing!"

The lizard scoffed again, and this time she giggled, and the sound of her shy laughter was like hearing tiny silver bells chime in the breeze.

For some reason, hearing her say thank you to the snake thing made the Uchiha nod as if he was the one being thanked.

'It doesn't matter anyway, I suppose,' he thought when he caught himself imagining the little ten year old girl bowing her head in gratitude as her pale cheeks blush like she caught a fever.

But what the strange girl said next cruelly shot down the handsome, cold man's admittedly pleasant, warm, and fuzzy imagination.

"Bu-but I sti-still do-don't know what to think about the Second Waker sama."

The lizard tried to hide its amusement as it nonchalantly asked, "Why do you say that, Hyuuga?"

"I-I hear all the girls say nothing but wonderful things about him...Even Haruno chan loves him...but…"

Now the tall man was leaning his body on the marble, thinking 'But what? Finish your sentence, woman! What is she stalling for?' He tried to keep his foot from tapping on the stone in impatience.

The lizard shifted its green eyes toward the pillar where it felt its master's presence but slyly guided the conversation.

"But you said you never saw any of the Wakers, left alone the Second. What makes you so presumptuous?"

"I-I don't mean to be!" but the girl scratched her chin with her index finger, "bu-but he-he has so-so many girls who are literally dying to see him, but...he-he never even lets any of them near him. Ju-just last month, I couldn't sleep because all the girls who sent him gifts were cry-crying cause he-he returned them back...untouched."

The lizard started to panic as it felt a flare of deadly chakra from behind a pillar they just passed by, "Uhh...Hyuuga?"

But the Hyuuga didn't stop her blasphemy there, "It-it's re-really mean, if you think about it!"

She was speaking with a lot more than passion, which is highly uncharacteristic for her reserved, shy personality.

"If-if I had so-so many people who-who care for me, I...would wa-want to be their friend."

The lizard shaked its triangular head, "You're okay with having a hundred squealing, pushy girls who don't mind their own business as friends? That won't work for you Hyuuga. You care too much about everyone and everything."

"I-I guess you have a point, lizard chan...But...it wou-wouldn't hurt to sa-say 'thank you' in person…It's...a little heartless of the Second Waker sama to only show himself once and then disappear...All the girls want is to just see him one more time...They wo-work so hard for him, a-and they want so little."

The lizard stared at her in disbelief, "You're feeling bad for those bullies who just kicked sand in your face when you fell down thirty minutes ago? Are you that stupid?"

"Bu-but they look so different when they talk about him...The-they look like my friends back at home. I can't help but feel bad for them. I-is it that much to ask of Waker sama to show his face once in a while? Af-after all, lizard chan, they did leave their homes to see him…"

She knew that she will sound stupid to her four legged sensei no matter what, but that didn't stop her from trying to explain herself. And the lizard would never admit it outloud, but that persistence was what made her somewhat admirable despite her incomprehensible traits. For example, her suffocating naivete and affinity to being a pushover and doormat to those bitches who disguise themselves as sweet, bubbly ten year olds. In fact, the lizard hates children on the verge of entering adulthood. It's a miracle the reptile had been staying with the Hyuuga 24/7 for so long.

The lizard scoffed again and turned its head away from her in contempt of her plushy soft heart.

As he heard the dissipating sounds of her footsteps, he finally got to relax his shoulders that he didn't realize were tensed while he was listening to her nonsense.

Foolish nonsense, the girl was sputtering. What did she know about him? She was just like the rest of the other girls. Presuming things about him without knowing him. He ought to be completely disappointed and brush the thought of her away like the dirt caught in the soles of his boots.

All these thoughts were running in the back of his mind as he stomped away in the opposite direction. His long dark cloak fluttering behind him, as his handsome features froze in icy resentment.

'How dare she, how dare she, how dare she...'

He was not just mad. He was _irate_. He pushed his cloak from his shoulder as if it was the source of his annoyance.

From a distance, Hidan was just coming back from his meditation in his temple.

Even though he always seemed pissed, he was actually in a good mood so he made his mind to at least greet his boss.

"Uchiha sama-"

But the Akatsuki's gesture of politeness was brutally shot down as the dark haired man passed by him in a huff. The cold wind that was stirred by his billowing cloak hit Hidan's face as he stared slack-jawed.

Dumbfounded by Uchiha's rudeness, the religious maniac couldn't keep his mouth from spewing unholy profanities like "Motherfucker" and "Asshole."

And he had to go back to the temple to rinse his dirty mouth and mind once again through prayer and petition.

* * *

"OHMYYGAWWWD!"

Hyuuga feared she might die if she remained head locked in the scrawny but powerful arms of her pink haired companion.

Finally Haruno released her and her lovely face broke into an adorable, sheepish grin, "Sorry Hyuuga, I didn't mean to squeeze you!"

Hyuuga smiled. She was in Haruno's room because she begged her to come and see if her hairstyle and outfit looked as perfect as possible.

Haruno was showing her assortment of dresses and flowy jumpers in her wardrobe cabinet. Hyuuga sat on Haruno's bed and gave her opinions about which dress did most justice to her slim, willowy figure .

"Now perfume!"

Haruno dashed to her vanity mirror and jumped on her mattress as soon as she got her two tiny perfume bottles.

Hyuuga stared down at the sparkling crystal bottles, one that looks like a sparkling red apple and another like a golden pear.

She gave the sparkly eyed Haruno a quizzical look, "Umm...Ha-Haruno chan...I know that the di-dinner bouquet with the Waker samas is a big deal but...are-aren't we too young for per-perfume?"

"It's a dinner banquet, Hyuuga, not bouquet!" Haruno spritzed a little of the apple perfume on her wrist and took a sniff, "And yes, it's a huge deal! We just heard of this an hour ago, and we don't have much time! We have to look our best for the Waker samas!"

Hyuuga smiled warmly and shook her head, "I-I'm good, Ha-Haruno...I-I'll just wear the dress we-we wore at our orientation."

Haruno gasped, "But Hyuuga, this is finally our time to see the Waker samas up close! You don't know when we will ever...if EVER we'll get to see them again before we become Waker's Pearls!"

Hyuuga doubted that she will ever be able to best the rest of her competitors, but she was thankful of Haruno's optimism and high opinion toward her.

And it was not just Haruno. Every girl was doing anything and everything within their means to look perfect for the candidates' dinner banquet with the Wakers.

But Hyuuga was simply not interested. Some girls took her disinterest as having an unwarrantedly huge ego, but she just didn't care.

Finally Haruno settled on her outfit-a one-piece dress that had a slim fitting dove grey top and a top waisted flowy red dress that accentuated her endless, perfect legs.

She didn't look ten- the tall, lean girl with beautiful green eyes that shot deep into guys and girls looked at least twelve, if not thirteen.

Even the mild hearted Hyuuga couldn't stifle the pang of jealousy she felt as she stared at Haruno's reflection in the tall mirror.

When Haruno turned at her abruptly, Hyuuga quickly smiled at her friend and told her how beautiful she was.

The girl smiled radiantly back, "Alright, let's go!"

* * *

Hyuuga sighed in exasperation as she stood behind the sixteen girls of her cell. Except her, the girls were all anxious for their turn to enter the banquet hall, and their cell was one of the last remaining groups in the waiting hall.

Actually, there was something that made her anxious to get in the banquet. She nodded. Food. Strawberry tarts with chocolate layers. Toasty cinnabuns. She heard that they even have steamed crabs that were caught fresh from the silver lakes of the Realm.

All the girls picked their turns to enter the banquet hall through a lottery system. Once they enter, they take their seats at first come first serve basis. It Even though she tried to brush her concern away, she was very unlucky, and she was the last in line.

Even though she never saw the Wakers, she doubted that their looks would eclipse her desire for crabs and tilapia bone soup with wontons, no matter how handsome they are.

She just hoped that the ninety eight girls who already went in left some crab legs and cinnabuns.

Zetsu sensei opened the door of the waiting hall and called the next girl in line, "Murakami."

Now she was really the last person. She realized that as she stood in the middle of the empty waiting hall that used to accommodate a hundred girls who were excited to finally see the Wakers for the second time of their lives.

Some girls even cried, and a few fainted in over excitement, causing Hidan to throw a fit in rage that made Hyuuga quail in fear. He didn't even care about tossing the unconscious girls into the dining hall without as much as a thought about their well being.

 _Creak-_

Her ears perked up as she heard the sound of the door opening.

"Little poo," Zetsu sensei called.

Hyuuga stepped forward, but her smile dropped as Zetsu closed the door behind him, barring her exit.

To her surprise, Zetsu sensei was acting a bit strange and unusual. He was averting his eyes from Hyuuga and shuffling his feet.

"Uhh..Little poo, umm..."

"So, the guy who brought you here right? He-he suddenly said he...umm..."

At his inability to continue, Hyuuga's face showed a look of surprise and deep consternation, "Ye-yes! Di-did some-something happen to messenger sama, sensei?"

"Umm," the tall morphous man scratched the back of his light green hair, "umm, he said...he wants to see you...I don't know what his deal is. You can honestly say 'no,' cause it's probably not so important."

"Is-is he-he okay, sensei?!"

Her instincts told her that if it was "not so important," the clear cut, seemingly emotionless messenger sama wouldn't suddenly ask her to see him in the middle of the night. Maybe he was sick or in a big trouble? Her ten year old maternal instincts kicked in right away at the thought of kind messenger sama getting sick, lying on bed with a towel over his forehead, and the delectable images of cinnabuns, crab legs, and hot soup were banished from her thoughts.

She raised her voice as she gave Zetsu a pleading look,"Ah-ah, se-sensei, pl-please tell me wh-where I can see messenger sama!"

Zetsu internally groaned. Now why was that cold faced Uchiha making him lie to little poo through his teeth? She looked worry sick for the undeserving cold face! Testing an innocent ten year old girl's loyalty to the Wakers by lying was not part of his job contract.

"Uhh...sorry, I can't. Even if I joke around, I am still an Akatsuki, so I can't let a candidate drop out of the Wakers' dinner banquet. That's against the rule. All candidates must be there when the Wakers summon them."

"Pl-please, sensei...just this once...pl-please."

But a black head of Zetsu sprung from the marble floor and shook ruefully, "Sorry. Rules are rules, little poo."

She was already used to her sensei's strange, mellifluous body, so she wasn't so shocked by the sight.

She clasped her hands together and pressed her lips on her hands joined in prayer, "Ze-Zetsu se-sensei, I-I promise I will co-come back right away after I see that me-messenger sama is okay. I-I won't stall too long. Please..."

"Ummm," Zetsu crossed his arms, and his black head hopped on his shoulder, making him look like a black-white siamese twin.

She looked up at him with wet, puppy eyes, and Zetsu groaned aloud, "No...that face...that eyes...Oh-fuck, fine."

Her face brightened as Zetsu finally told her, "He said he'll be waiting at the East compound with the courtyard where the giant pond is. You know there right?"

She nodded fervently and bowed in gratitude. As she ran toward the exit door that was opposite to the entrance door to the banquet hall, Zetsu called her, "Hate to be the fairy godmother, Cinder-poo, but come back before midnight, okay? Or else, we'll both get in big trouble!"

"Ye-yes, sensei! Th-thank you!"

And the girl didn't waste her time running out of the monumental waiting hall, the seemingly endless labyrinthine corridors, and gardens that smelled of sweet jasmines. She jumped down the stairs and pushed the heavy door with all her might and plunged into the cold night air that would've made her want to shrink back in the main palace's warmth. Her breath took form as a white smoke in the chilly atmosphere, but her eyes were bright like opal stones and cheeks were flushed with scarlet.

She continued running in the direction to the East courtyard, which is a decent half of hour away if she runs with all her strength.

She didn't have anything since her lunch with Haruno, but strangely she felt a spring of energy propelling her to move faster and faster.

"Pl-please be okay, messenger sama," she begged out loud as she became closer and closer to her destination.

* * *

It was a scene worthy of a masterpiece work of art, having Uchiha stand underneath a six hundred year old willow tree and gaze at the full moon's reflection on the wide pond that was created for the East courtyard.

Even when the little girl was trying to catch her breath due to her exhausting race, he refused to take notice of her presence and continued staring at the lake. He finally looked at her when she stood upright, but the way he stared at her made it seem that _he_ was the one asking why she was there.

"Me-messenger sama, did you a-ask for me?"

After a pause, Uchiha made a statement that sounded like an observatory remark, "You came."

"Ye-yes! Ze-zetsu sensei told me that some-something happened to you! Are you-"

He interrupted her, "You could get in trouble...for not going to the banquet."

His dark eyes pierced into her heart like the first time they met. He asked, "Why did you come?"

Why did she come? She was worried! But the tall messenger sama looked perfectly fine. Now the poor girl was confused. "Me-messenger sama, I-I..."

He sighed and continued, "I told Zetsu that I wanted to see you. I didn't say I was sick or anything."

He softened his eyes as he explained to her the reason of his surprise, "It was a chance to contact your potential master. But you passed on that opportunity," He then interrogated her pointedly, "Why?"

It was true. There was no guarantee that the Wakers will open another special event for the candidates to see them in person in the next six years. But she deliberately made the choice to throw away that chance to see the coveted sight of the Wakers and instead ran to him without even having dinner.

And the crazy thing was she knew all this but still chose to go to the messenger sama.

He then asked this blush worthy question with a straight face, "Is seeing me more important than seeing the Wakers?"

"Me-messenger sama, I-I was worried...Because I didn't know what you-you were going through, that made me worried."

She lowered her head and poked her fingers together.

"The Waker samas...I never met them and possibly never will, bu-but...I know you, messenger sama, and I-I didn't want you to be sick, or cold, or hungry," she paused and then said as a final thought, "or scared..."

She tentatively raised her eyes to him, but his expression remained as unreadable as ever.

She felt the heat from her chest rise to her throat, "Me-messenger sama, I-I don't know the Waker samas li-like I know-know you!"

What she said was worthy of treason. The Waker's Pearl candidate, no matter how young she is, should never state or imply that someone else is more important in her life than the Wakers.

Saying that her priority is on something or someone else than the Waker can get her in serious trouble. Even exile.

But that didn't matter to this little girl. She wasn't afraid of two people who don't even care about the people who love and idolize them. But she was indeed afraid of losing the one person who saved her from the darkness. "So-so, are you o-okay, messenger sama?"

There was a strange pause. The girl looked eagerly at the tall man and her pearlescent eyes roamed around his face, looking for signs of illness.

When she was just about to activate her byakugan, she heard a sound.

"Kuk..."

Her eyes snapped open, and she stared wide eyed at the tall man. "Messenger sama?"

The man was being weird again, rubbing his septum with his knuckles while his broad shoulders vibrated as if he was trying to hold something in-like a sneeze. Then he covered both of his eyes with his long fingered, broad hand.

When he withdrew his hand from his face and straightened up, his face was as calm and placid as ever.

However, Hyuuga thought that she saw a faint ghost of a smile curved on his lips just a while ago.

"So, you just blew off on the lords of the Realm for a mere bodyguard," he looked at Hyuuga, and there was a glint of mirth in his dark eyes that made the ten year old suddenly feel really shy and self conscious.

The tall man then pointed at the starting point of the labyrinthine rose path, "That's the shortcut."

Hyuuga tilted her head and gave him a quizzical look, "Bu-but...that's a dead-end?"

The man assumed a slight scowl but it was not intimidating enough to offend her, "You came all the way. Do you think I'll make you waste your time?"

"No-no, but..."

He sighed a little and softened his eyes a lot more, but his tone was firm. "You can take my word on this one."

He turned his back on her and fixed his stony attention on a solitary gold fish that visited the shallow shores and then disappeared into the watery depths.

Hyuuga took a step back and tried to go back the way she did, but it seemed that the messenger was not going to leave without making sure she followed that strange direction.

Sighing, Hyuuga relented and just decided to take an extra five minutes on her way back.

She kept turning her head to look at the lone figure of the messenger who stood as a statue by the big willow tree and kept looking at her.

But when she placed her right foot on the first stone tile of the rose garden path, he was gone and only thin willow leaves wafted where he was standing.

Even before she can realize that he disappeared, she felt a familiar clasp on her shoulder, "Hyuuga!"

She shuddered in surprise, and Haruno looked at her weirdly, "Where were you?"

"Ha-Haruno, wh-why are you here?"

Haruno frowned in puzzlement, "Why I'm here? This is the outdoor terrace of the banquet hall!"

"Hu-huh? Bu-but...we're in the Ea-east gard-"

But Haruno grabbed her hand and tugged her in, "Stop being so silly, Hyuuga!"

Indeed, when the pink haired girl pulled her in a few more steps, she saw that they were surrounded by other candidates, and they were all enjoying their time out in the outdoor terrace lit by pixie lights of various colors.

The soft music of the harps filled the air, and the only words she can hear were really, "Second Waker sama is so handsome," "First Waker sama knows how to have fun." or something like that.

Now Hyuuga had to pretend that she was here all the while to not get in trouble.

After giving her a glass of a fruity drink, Haruno put both of her hands on her hips and gave her a triumphant smile, "So, I'm right, ain't I?"

"Oh? Oh, yes, yes!"

Haruno put her hands up high and tossed her head in glee, "I knew it! I knew you would understand why I like the Second Waker sama so much!"

Hyuuga tried to hide the fact that she actually didn't go to the banquet by laughing into her glass, "Haha..."

* * *

Two tall men were walking down the arcaded corridor that was exposed to the cool night air. Their long shadows stretched in a diagonal slant over the granite tiles.

One of the man called to another,

"Hey, teme!"

When the man who was walking ahead turned around, the man who stopped him in his tracks suddenly threw a punch at his face- _Poof-_

The man felt his fist, wrapped in gauze, hit the empty air. He then grabbed his blond hair in exasperation, "Gahhh! I knew it!"

He glared at where the shadow clone used to be with sharp blue eyes, "I was sitting with a less bratty but fake teme all night!"

He raked his hand through his blond hair, "Now, where is that bastard?"

* * *

 _Present, in Konoha_

 _Splash...drip drip_

The sound of water gently splashing around in the bathroom reached his ears as he pressed the back of his head on his bedroom wall. He groaned.

It was late at night, the time Hinata would expect him to go to sleep. Some times, late at night when she feels like it, she would creep into the second story bathroom like a little mouse and turn on the bathtub faucet and let the hot running water lull her into defenseless rest in the giant porcelain tub.

He hoped that the two years he lived away from her caring and aggravatingly platonic touches and her apologetic sweet smiles in the kitchen and the sunflower fields would abate this unreasonable passion that survived the time of separation.

Listening to the sound of water lapping on her skin, he mused, 'How would she react if she saw the thoughts running in my head?'

For a moment, he appreciated the fact that she does not have the ability to read minds. But then he couldn't deny the satisfaction he feels when he imagines seeing her eyes wide and startled in a revelation that is so horrific in her small, naive mind. Maybe he subconsciously wants her to know the thoughts he has towards her.

What would she feel? Revulsion? Maybe a maternal type of pity that she shows towards animals that hurt their limbs?

But Sasuke was not an animal with a hurt limb. He was a seventeen year old boy with physiologically normal urges that were unfortunately directed toward a girl who didn't love him.

'Well, then do YOU love her?' a darker side of him whispered into his ear.

"Shut up," he answered stoically and went back to the secret cave of his thoughts where he imagines a setting where she also had such feelings and those feelings belonged to him.

One thing he can definitely be sure though is that she'll never reciprocate his advances and he'll lose whatever relationship they had if he does. He can practically picture her awkward attempt to shroud her discomfort as she stutters and turns away, "Sa-Sasuke, I-I think we-we need some spa-space. _Go-gomen..._ " Curiously, her effort to soften the edge of her rejection always managed to cut deeper in the men who desired her, even though he knew that was never her intention.

At times, he even wondered if she is aware of the unhealthy desires he harbored towards her in their daily interaction. When the touch of his rough, trained hands linger too much on her wrists or back or when his breath is an inch too close to her hair, she would lower her eyes in a tragic manner, as if she is mourning the time of innocence they used to share.

"Times were so simple then," she would say as she conjures the times she was his doting elder sister and caregiver and he was just a young boy, strong-willed and emotionally vulnerable and according to her terms, "treasurable." The memories of the boy she loved would bring a smile to her mouth that he just wants to muffle with his lips or his rough, brute hand while he pushes her on the floor and pulls her pants below her waistline. While he is imagining these, she would raise her angelic eyes up to him eagerly, "Don't you miss those times too, Sasuke?"

At such moments when she would obliviously reject him, he would always feel the reflexive urge to backfire at her unintentional cruelty by finishing off where they stopped when they were arguing about the daimyos in Suna. Every night, he kept himself busy with his fantasy of what it would be like to bring kind, sweet Hinata into a state of shell shock by shoving her into one of the empty, unused rooms in the mansion and pouring every bit of him inside her until he was sated. Until it was she who was tainted, not him. Maybe then, she will finally realize that he was no longer the boy she can coddle into submission. Then she would regret the moment she brought in a wolf cub, thinking that it would be a docile pet she can cradle and kiss on the nose and cuddle with under the blankets.

He would sometimes imagine seeing her smiling, sleepy face next to him in the morning, but these days, he enjoys seeing shots of her flesh as she tiptoes to reach something on the cupboard or bends over to pull a stubborn weed by its root in the garden. He imagines sneaking up to her and slipping a hand underneath her blouse and cupping a generous handful of flesh, hearing her gasp and whimper in fear as he laughs in dark elation and triumph. When she implores him to stop or at least show some mercy toward her untried body, he will darkly whisper into her ear that it was all too late.

And he'll continue where he stopped.

And what was the most messed up is that he would gladly relish in her helpless cries and useless struggles as long as he can keep her. One of his biggest turn on is imagining her writhe underneath him in a futile, desperate attempt to run away from his dirty words and exploring hands.

That alone makes him possibly the worst scum of the world. Saying that he wants to violate the one woman who took care of him the best she could.

Since he left her to protect her, everybody, including Tsunade, no longer treat him as a wayward, naive boy, but why can't she see that?

He squeezed his eyes shut in frustration. She was probably the most difficult person he met.

But that was not the only thing that kept him up late at night.

He remembered the look on the Hyuuga head's face (Neji was his name, he believed) when Hinata quickly left to avoid suspicion arising related to the 'perfume incident.' The disappointment that was edged into his sculpted features turned into harsh animosity when Kiba cornered Sasuke about the reason he smelled a lot like her. But since Hinata was more like Neji's benefactor who aided his ascension to clan head, he has no right to interrogate any of them of the reason they share the same body odor. Hinata deserved every bit of Neji's respect and technically she deserved Sasuke's too; it's just that Sasuke would rather provoke her with his insolence than treat her as an elder the way Neji does.

Reflecting on the Hyuuga event that caused his momentary exile, Sasuke knew that Hinata and Neji shared some Hyuuga blood and technically Hinata was his ancestor. But thanks to a five thousand year gap, even the long haired prick had a better chance at approaching her with explicit intentions than he ever will. Him, who does not share a single blood with her. Just because she arbitrarily signed some adoption papers that Tsunade had in her office.

 _Drip, drip_

Then his breath hitched to his throat when he heard her soft padded footsteps on the bathroom tile and water falling from her long, black hair.

* * *

Sasuke seems to think that she was still treating him like a baby, but she is fully aware that he is now a grown man. She became a Waker's Pearl when she is sixteen, and he is seventeen. His eighteenth birthday was coming soon. Now it was time for him to go out into the world, see new people, and...it saddened her a little, but sooner or later he'll find a girlfriend she knew would love him enough for him to never miss her care.

'Sometimes...I wish he was a little shorter than he is...his features just a little less defined and less sculpted...'

It was selfish of her to wish upon that, but she couldn't help it sometimes. He became too handsome for the girls to not notice. And she couldn't stop it even if she wanted to.

Hinata is not entirely clueless. She is twenty, and she can sense it when a man is interested in her. She is careful to not assume that a man was attracted to her, and she cross-examines evidence and questions herself again and again before arriving at such conclusion. But Sasuke has been looking at her with the eyes of a man. Far too often. And she is doing nothing to thwart that kind of feelings.

The biggest hardship for her is knowing that she should never confuse Sasuke with the sovereign of the Realm.

They are different people, she told herself. Sasuke may be the reincarnation of her sovereign, but they are not the same. The composition of their soul, personality, and external appearances might be identical, but their experiences that molded them into who they were are disparate. She can't love Sasuke, while still missing her sovereign.

Why are the matters of the heart so complicated? Or was she overthinking things?

The girl staring back at her from the surface of the water refused to answer.

She firmly believed that experiences are what makes people who they are. And it would be unfair to expect Sasuke, a seventeen year old boy who has adventures and a life to lead, to be the substitute for her sovereign. She could never force him to love her the way her sovereign did because of a past he doesn't even remember. She would never impose that on him, because in her own way, she loved the boy too much and hoping that he would become someone else is so unfair.

And it felt like a betrayal of the heart for her to love Sasuke or even consider thinking of Sasuke in a romantic light. Even though he was the reborn, regenerated entity of Uchiha sama, her heart refused to open up to the boy who was a shadow of her first master and first love.

'And...what Sasuke is feeling towards me is a phase...lust that he can feel toward any girl...'

The best she can do is to not confuse the boy and support him as a faithful servant.

These were the thoughts that haunted her when she bathed late at night.

 _Creak_

Hinata froze right after she closed the bathroom door behind her.

"Sasuke..."

She thought he was asleep. But he was standing in the corridor with a cold, indifferent expression that settled like a mask on his handsome face. It pained her to see that look on his face. Did the years of living away from home and accomplishing those arduous missions do something to his spirit? He was already so cold when he was young, but now he looked like his heart was made of ice.

But since he has been frequently shrinking back in disgust from her loving touches, she can only look at him from a safe distance and hope that he is doing okay.

Did she possibly wake him up? She wanted to ask him, but she was uncomfortable to be standing in front of him with only a towel wrapped around her. If she was fully clothed and if it wasn't so late at night, she would approach him and tenderly touch the area around his eyes that were starting to show signs of tiredness.

After a pause, he asked, "Are you done?"

She blushed and was about to apologize for taking her time too long, but he interrupted her, "I'm going to take a soak. Did you drain the water?"

The blush suffused wider and reached her collarbone and shoulders, and his eyes narrowed.

She actually left the water in the tub so she can use it to do some delicate laundry and use the rest to water her garden.

She made a move to go back to the bathroom to drain the water, but he abruptly slammed his hand on the door and blocked her way.

His eyes stared right into her startled eyes. Her eyelashes were still wet from the humid bath, he noticed, and her glistening pale pink lips were slightly apart. Her soaked black hair tumbled onto her shoulders and water kept dripping down into the valley between her ample breasts that were concealed by the white towel. The height difference gave him a vantage viewpoint of her chest even though she wrapped them around as best as she could, making it harder for him to suppress the urge to seize her wrist and drag her to his bedroom where he would lock her on his mattress and forget everything that has been holding him back.

Instead, he cast a cold sideway glance down at her, "This is also my house, and I'm not letting you waste water."

Also, because he was her master, her property automatically was under his power, and he already knew that it was unnecessary to remind her of that.

He then turned his eyes away from her and ordered, "Go to sleep."

Stung by the coldness of his tone and haste to get rid of her, she bowed her head down, hiding her tears, and said, "Yes..."

And like a dutiful Waker's Pearl, she did as he ordered and left him to his own devices.

After seeing her go in her room, he sighed and opened the bathroom door with a click.

That night, he slept in the tub full of jasmine scented water.

And that night, he dreamt of taking Hinata against her will.

 _He seized her hand that was clasping on the edge of her towel, and before she can do anything he shoved her to the cold wall and stripped her of her weak barrier._

 _"Sa...Sasuke?"_

 _When his ice cold hands made their presence known on her warm flesh, she pushed against him with all her might but that only made him smirk in victory as he licked her cheek. The brief, tentative licks became long, teasing strokes, and he smeared his tongue over her jawline, marking her as his._

 _"Sa...Sasuke!"_

 _She was too sweet, too sweet for him to stop. So she resorted to begging him with her eyes to stop, but he shut down her silent pleas by groping her left breast while lifting her entire body from the floor by gripping her right thigh._ _Pinned and naked, she shook her head and continued begging,_

 _"No...no"_

 _He broke into a sigh as her begging him to stop had the opposite effect and kissed her._

 _"Umph!"_

 _She tried to shake her head off but his long tongue already held hers in hostage. He meant for his kiss to soothe the poor girl, but she refused to be soothed. She was stubborn, so he expected her resistance anyways. His tongue lingered in her mouth and he stroked the side of her entire body with his hand in an effort to comfort the whimpering girl._

 _He finally broke away from the kiss, and the thin sliver of saliva between their lips glistened in reminder of their forceful reunion._

 _She moaned, "Aah..."_

 _Startled by his scorching gaze, she turned her face away but her feeble attempt to escape only served to annoy and excite him. So he gingerly rubbed himself against her, his throbbing, hot member attacking her innocence but barely restrained by his pjs. His pjs were dark and cheap so the lint of his fabric rubbed off against her inner thighs and between her legs because of the wet friction. He groaned and threw his head back, drowning in the sounds of her plaintive mewls and protests. This moment was what he always dreamed of for as long as he can remember. Tonight he will forever change the dynamics of their relationship, and she will never forget the moment he bludgeon her frail, tender body with the full force of his desires._

 _Seeing that she can't bring him to his senses, she looked at outside for her savior._

 _"He-help! Somebody!"_

 _He grunted as he slid down his pj's and briefs, freeing his member from the cotton confines._

 _"Ki..Kiba! Shino! Neji kun! Somebody, please!"_

 _It would have been better if she didn't call for her knights in shining armor, but it was too late. Nobody was going to save her tonight._

 _But she didn't give up. She cried, "Somebody, anybody, please!"_

 _"You can cry out as much as you want," he chuckled, "this is a mansion with every wall soundproofed. Nobody can hear your screams."_

 _"Ahhh!"_

 _He has always been the physically stronger one, but now he is using his power to corner an unwilling mate—a fruitation of a violent union between a male and female._

 _"Ah! Sas...Sasuke! No!"_

 _She cried out in surprise as he pounded into her, and the squelching sounds of her pussy filled to the limit and the sounds of his pelvic bone and cock slapping her wet flesh filled the air, and her nails clawed on his arms._

 _"Oh! Stop! Noo-!"_

 _Her loud cries excited him like nothing else, incomparable to the heat of battle or rush of ecstasy after a majestic feat. But her cries also worried him because he didn't want her knights in shining armor try to rescue their princess after hearing screams of a woman from the Uchiha house._

 _He was done being her protector, her chivalrous knight, so he decided to be the overpowered villain that kidnaps and thoroughly defiles her pure, pitiful body._

 _Seeing her face, eyes dazed and cheeks red, made him wonder if she was as affected as him during this intimate moment._

 _In an ideal world, he would be sharing this moment with her, not inflicting it upon her, but it came to a point where he can't imagine having her without committing a crime of rape._

 _When he finally filled the channel of her body to the brim with his oozing discharge, he hissed in frustration as he was far from sating his appetite and he already ejaculated when he believed he just started._

 _He slid in and out a couple more times, and her back hit against the wall with loud noises of thudding and it brought him huge satisfaction to see her breasts jiggle and her mouth to voice "ah ah ah ah."_

 _And when she shed tears from those eyes, he couldnt hold back so he sucked on her soaked cheeks. Her hopeless tears were delicious._

 _When he pulled himself out of her, she was panting and blocking his view of her pretty face with the back of her hand pressed on her nose._

 _Her refusal to see him right after he climaxed made him call her name reverently, tenderly, "Hina..."_

 _He stretched out his hand and intertwined his long fingers with hers, the fingers that were curled around her face in shame._

 _He gently peeled her hand away from her face and lifted her chin up delicately so that her tearful eyes can see the worry and concern etched on his face._

 _When he saw her eyes, he sighed. Even in his dream, he cannot imagine being with her other than having her as either a humble servant and advisor or a petite receptor for his animalistic desires. His mind simply cannot imagine her wanting to be his lover, his woman._

 _His large hands cupped her round face as he asked her, "What should I do, Hinata?"_

 _The last question echoed in the vacuum. "What should I do?"_

 _She broke the silence, "Pl-Please...let me go..." she begged._

 _At first he stared at her wide eyed and then his dark hair covered the sight of his eyes, casting a shadow over his eyes._

 _And then with double the strength, he hoisted her body up by sliding his hands beneath her underarms. When her breasts bumped into the tip of his nose, he groaned and opened his mouth wide and engulfed her left nipple and surrounding flesh._

 _Goosebumps rose on her skin and she gasped, throwing her head back._

 _He lavished all attention on her breasts, murmuring audibly, "ah...umm, what makes you think I will let you walk out on me after our first sex?"_

 _Seeing his dark hair mussed and sticking out between her breasts, she shook her head and tried to push him off her._

 _"Fight me..." he murmured._

 _He hummed appreciatively as he suckled on her, his sharp nose resting on her plush voluptuous breast._

 _She softly whimpered and shook her head but that only resulted in added punishment of being subjected to six more times of being pummeled by his dick from various positions._

 _The second time, he forced her into the bathroom and fucked her senseless from the behind in front of the mirror. It excited him to see the reflection of his dick coming in and out of her plump ass that he massaged with both of his hands._

 _The third time, he sawed his member in and out of her pussy while he fucked her on the bathroom tile floor. Even then she begged for someone to save her from her master's evil lust. He cruelly muffled her cries for help with his hand and lifted her right leg to hit a different spot._

 _Then he carried her limp, close to unconscious body to his bed where everynight he will dream of smearing her beautiful body with his cum. While he groped both of her chests and penetrated her relentlessly, he whispered his sordid details of his dreams that haunted him since he was fifteen. "Yeah, you...Fuck...so tight... did you ever think I will give you your freedom?" When she refused to answer, he pummeled into her with twice the speed and aggression and she kept shaking her head, "no, enough...no." That was the fourth._

 _The fifth was when he saw the sky turning bright white through the windows. He was shoving himself in and out of her on her own bed and when he came... it was glorious._

 _After the sixth, she finally collapsed in exhaustion and he woke up._


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I wish I did!

* * *

 _5007 years ago,_

 _Huff huff_

The entire palace of the Realm was covered with eight to ten inches of powdery snow the day Hyuuga and her other forty nine competitors had to fight for the right to stay in the game.

The dark grey tile roofs of the lofty imperial structures were decked with pure white blankets of snow, and the labyrinthine gardens and expansive palace courtyards were covered with a pure white sheet of snow. Crooked pine trees and willow trees hung low by the weight of the snow, and the artificial ponds were all frozen, looking like Iron-age mirrors that were used for ancient ceremonial rites. The knife-sharp wind coming from the Second Waker's Northern lands sent a flurry of snow across the palace compound.

Hyuuga has turned thirteen years old, and right now she is running as if she is being chased by some yeti. Her legs made deep prints in the thick snow, which was making it harder for her to run. She was trying her best to run, ploughing through the snow with her legs, on the lengthy roof of a stone tower where she can see everyone in the palace from above.

She ran pass the parapets of stone that decorated the tower and took a sweeping look over the palace courtyard.

 _Byakugan!_

As she scanned the palace that turned into Winter Wonderland, a wind blew across her shoulder length hair that she tied into a low ponytail. The sky was the palest baby blue, but the threshold between the sky and the horizon was almost white.

 _Are you sure you're good alone?_ Her reptilian friend asked her as it rolled on her warm nylon blanket as she readied herself in front of her full length mirror.

 _I-I want to do this on my own, lizard-chan. Bu-but thank you..._

 _Hmph!_

The long white lizard turned its haughty eyes away from her and snuggled back into sleep.

So here she was taking the second most important exam in Waker's Pearl candidate history: the Filtration.

The undoubtedly most crucial moment in the entire six year training history is the Last Tournament where only three survivors of the competition will fight to be the Waker's Pearl. That will take another three years though.

The rule of the Filtration exam is mind numbingly simple; there are fifty tiny silver bells scattered across the palace compound. A hundred contenders who refined their speed, chakra usage, strength, and mental dexterity must find one silver bell, and the remaining fifty who failed to find one are disqualified and must leave the Realm forever. And they have to find them and take their bells to their own team leader senseis by 6 in the morning.

Haruno's sensei was Konan. Hyuuga's was Zetsu sensei. And they have to get the bells to them by no later than 6. Or else, they'll be disqualified.

So technically, finding the silver bell is only half the battle.

It has been four hours since the exam started, but she still hasn't seen a sign of the bell. The palace of the Realm is extremely wide-it takes five days to travel the majority of the central parts of the palace at an average walking pace. The snow was making it hard for the girls to run so they resorted to flying on top of the roofs for most of the time, but the tempestuous wind was throwing them off their balance. And they have to search the grounds in case there are some bells lying around.

Some girls who were too desperate to find the bells forgot about relying on their abilities started searching for the bells that might be buried deep in the snow. But only a few were that thoughtless. The majority were very smart, powerful, and astute.

Hyuuga gulped when she saw one of the girls use her water-control power to bring the snow to its melting point and then freeze it right away into transparent ice.

"Aahhh!"

Two girls whose reflexes were not fast enough got their foot stuck in the ice, and they were unable to move. The girl who turned the white powdery snow into glassy ice searched the grounds for the bell while her opponents tried to free themselves by crushing on the ice with their fists.

The competition was tough, and the girls would do anything to win.

Three minutes passed since Hyuuga activated her bloodline limit. Then five...

Now she was feeling a little anxious, but she kept her unwavering attention. She can see at least twenty girls racing in the palace courtyard, and the mere thought of any of them finding a bell first got her stomach queasy.

"I found it! Found it!"

She sighed, 'How unwise of her.' She shook her head at the excited girl's foolishness, asking for the hungry wolves to go get her by shaking a succulent piece of meat.

Of course, one of the girls who were in her earshot heard her and snarled in ferocious rage.

"You bitch!"

The angry girl raced toward her by gliding on the iron colored ice and hurled a chakra flaring fist onto the girl's face.

And she saw a vicious fight between one girl and five others, who are roughly equals in fighting skills. Seeing red blood dropping on the white snow, Hyuuga bit her bottom lip.

However, she had to stand in her own game and keep her unwavering attention to her byakugan and find the missing bell.

If she fails, she couldn't bear to face those who cared for her when she was at her lowest: lizard chan, Haruno, Black and White Zetsu sensei, and most of all, messenger sama.

Then her heart jumped to her throat as she noticed a minuscule glow in her field of vision, 'there it is!'

The epiphany almost made her joined hands shiver in anticipation, but she had to snap out of the paralyzing thrill of her discovery.

Her eyes snapped back into normal, and the veins around them disappeared into smooth skin.

Now she just has to keep her calm and...

"There she is!"

oops-

Two girls- Fumiwara, the one who believed Hyuuga stole her gift to the Second Waker, and her best friend Seto landed on the stone tower's roof and cornered her.

"You found something, didn't you, Hyuuga?"

"No..I-I"

"Stop lying!"

Fumiwara had a knack for noticing spikes of chakra resulting from various psychological states, and Seto had the ability to split boulders in the mountain with her 'flying axe.' Fumiwara feasted on her opponent's emotional vulnerability and makes her strike when they are too overwhelmed, while Seto likes to throw her axe around, earning her the nickname, "Seto the Butcher." She is no match for either of them on one to one battle.

Now Hyuuga had no choice but to run in the opposite direction to where she wanted to go.

"Get her!"

Three years of living under their feet didn't do anything to diminish her terror of these poisonous teens. In fact, her growing knowledge of how truly manipulative and inconsiderate they can be made her more vigilant than ever before.

When she thought she was beyond their field of vision, she slipped beneath another roof with ornately carved stone work and hid herself in the shadows of the Medieval European style stone buttresses. She leaned on the back of a stone statue of a gargoyle and held her breath.

When she activated her byakugan and saw that they were far away, she finally relaxed and threw her arms around the stone gargoyle's long neck.

Then - _clang-_

Her eyes widened, "Huh?"

When her hands accidentally scraped the teeth of the stone gargoyle, her fingers hit something round and small and rang something.

Still unsure if what she heard is simple the wind or an illusion, she pushed her tiny hand inside the gargoyle's throat. When her hand drew itself from the stone monster's jaw, she was holding a tiny silver bell with a red string.

But before she can celebrate her stroke of good luck, she heard the sound of flying axes coming toward her.

 _Swing-Cracck!_

She quickly darted from beneath the stone buttress, barely avoiding the flying axe and kunai the size of a hammar that sliced the throat of the stone gargoyle.

Falling from the length, Hyuuga accidentally made a snow angel on the courtyard, and if she wasn't quick and used her chakra to lessen the pull of gravity, it would've been a bloody snow angel and that wouldn't 've be good.

Seto cried, "Hyuuga, today I'll set your funeral table!"

Knowing that they'll catch up to her if she tries to climb back up to the roof, Hyuuga started running on the snow laden courtyards.

She did her best to dodge Seto's flying axe that penetrated deep into the snow and made deep dents on the ground.

But running in the snow that already accumulated into knee-deep depths was quickly depleting her energy.

'If I keep letting them attack me from above...I'll die!"

She was running by the side of the pillared corridor, and as if Lady Fortune answered her prayer, she saw the iron bar door to the basement.

 _Byakugan!_

She can see the underlying mechanics of the giant metal lock, the tiny interlocking wheels, and then fast forward into the hundreds of stairs down to the underground tunnel of clay bricks.

Gripping her kunai, she rushed to the lock and stuck the sharp tip into the bell shaped hole, and the lock unhinged with a click.

 _Creak_

She opened the door wide and dashed into the darkness.

She can hear the sounds of footsteps from above, as she descended the twisting staircase that seemed endless in its length.

Trying to activate her byakugan in the pitch black darkness was putting her entire body through a tough grind, and the girls were relentless in their pursuit like salivating hunting dogs.

When she saw light coming from the very bottom, she sighed in relief but hastened her steps. She still had about five rotations around the spiraling stairs left.

When she finally stepped on the bottom floor, a soft but powerful light engulfed over her and she had to block her eyes from the light that threatened to wash over her.

She was facing a giant wall.

'Oh no...It's over for me...'

It was a dead-end.

* * *

 _Smack-!_

Fumiwara hurled an iron fist on the left side of her face, but she resolutely bit her lower lip as she fell flat against the wall lit with a spotlight that seemed to come from nowhere.

She rolled the inside of her mouth with her tongue, and she can taste bitter iron.

Seto stepped forward to her, "Hand it over, Hyuuga."

While glaring down at Hyuuga, Seto glanced at Fumiwara warily. Fumiwara was also acting defensive to the girl who was her comrade literally a second ago. Now that Hyuuga was their caught prey, only one could get the bell.

Lowering her head, Hyuuga swiped her mouth with her right hand. Blood that trickled from her lips made a red dash across her jaw like paint.

Then she quivered as she stuck the same hand she used to sweep blood across her face inside the inner pocket of her jacket.

"...O-O-Okay..."

She gripped what was inside her fist and dropped her left knee on the ground.

Seto raised one eyebrow, "What are-"

But before they can register what Hyuuga was going to do, she threw the bell upward.

The two girls lifted their heads but they were too late because the bell was already way up the fifty flight of stairs and was a twinkle high up.

"Shit!"

Before Fumiwara can make her move, Seto flew up the stairs like a jet. Fumiwara's eyes glowed like a viper's, and she quickly forgot the Hyuuga in her haste to get the bell before Seto does.

Hyuuga also looked up as she saw the two girls fly up the stairs in amazing speed as they battled each other while keeping their eyes up at the bell.

She could feel her knees buckling, but she still has things to do.

She searched for any place left, but strangely her bykaugan cannot penetrate through the pitch darkness that washed over the entire place except for the wall she was leaning at.

There was a big round spotlight over the wall, the radius was about five feet and a half.

She didn't know where the light was coming from, but it was indeed strange that the rest of the wall was mostly dark except for that giant spotlight.

The rest was cast in even blacker darkness, so even though Hyuuga was not necessarily scared of the dark, she didn't dare venture into that dark depths.

But she tried to calm her beating heart down, 'There must be a source of light. Somewhere located near the spiraling stairs. Even when I thought I was in complete darkness, my byakugan caught a glimpse of light from somewhere.'

She scanned above her head with her eyes, 'I was panicking too much that I failed to notice, but maybe there is some projector or light bulb...Or something...'

But then she caught something-a big round disk that was installed right below one of the staircases. Why didn't she notice that before?

She approached the disk, 'So the light is coming from this disk.' She touched the surface, 'Glassy...like a-'

Suddenly in the morning she remembered surveying herself in front of her full-length -

'A mirror!'

So the source of the spotlight on the wall was this mirror disk.

She wondered, 'Why is there a room like this anyways? Somehow it feels like a puzzle...'

 _"Every room of the palace has a function.'_

Somehow she remembered what messenger sama said to her a while before when she asked him why the palace was so wide.

'Maybe if I move this mirror disk so that it faces upward...I can light up this dark place.'

Right now, her imperative task is to see an exit route from this darkness other than the top of the stairs where Fumiwara and Seto were tearing their hair off.

Once they notice that what she threw to the air was not the bell...they were going to team up to kill her.

She had to stretch her entire body across the mirror disk to move it.

 _Squeeak_

She finally got the mirror disk to shift, but she was too small to get the disk to face the sky. She went behind the disk and grabbed both ends of the mirror.

"Umph..."

When she tilted the downward facing disk, the tube-shaped light moved across the wall, from bottom to top.

She cannot help but exclaim, "It's moving!"

As she tilted the disk upward, it seemed that the darkness was slowly going away. And she doesn't know how to explain it, but light seemed to wash down on her surroundings.

"Kyahhh!"

At the sound of Fumiwara's scream, she lifted her head to the two hundred stories above.

"What is happening?!"

Seto stopped her attacks and tried to hang on the stair rails as a strong gust of wind pushed both of the girls out toward the gates where they came from.

 _Clang-!_

Despite their desperate struggle to stay in the underground, the wind cast the them away and the metal gate to the two hundred flights of garden level stairs shut with a shrill clank.

The darkness completely turned into light and what was dimly lit reversed into being shadows. As if someone turned on a switch and reversed the roles of light and darkness in a single click. Like the moment when the sun lights up the surface of the moon that is on the opposite side of the earth, splitting the world into day and night. Like when the moon goes and the sun rises, taking the celestial body's place.

Hyuuga got to finally see what the darkness was concealing. And it was happened to be that the dark was concealing the interior of a monumental stone tower that had miles of books that shoot toward the sky. She was inside of a tower with a spiraling staircase that reached the distant top. Curtains drew back from the dome shaped windows, and sunlight showered in. Light and more light.

The two hundred flights of spiraling staircases were revolving around a huge cylindrical bookshelf that must have at least a billion of books. The thread coming out from the old colorful leather booklets suggested frequent use, and even the dust rising from the leaves of the books looked beautiful under the gold light of the setting sun. Light and more light. The unfolded beauty of the sight inspired an almost religious adoration in her little heart. She wanted this moment to never end.

"Hey! Are you okay, kid?"

She turned around, but she saw nobody behind her.

Again she heard that warm, boyish voice that she wondered was just a sweet vision conjured by her bedazzled mind.

"Up here! haha"

Entranced by the warm, golden voice, she looked up and joined her gripped hands to her chest. She would've forgotten that she was still holding on to the silver bell that is her key to the next level.

When she raised her eyes full of fear and curiosity, she saw a golden haired angel smiling down at her from a tall window still.

Was her time already up?

His bright blue eyes crinkled adorably on his face. He was what girls would call "cute," too cute to be the Grim Reaper.

"So it's finally us, huh?"

 _Ba-thump!_

'Oh gosh, I'm, I'm acting weird' she was screaming in her mind, but she just looks really scared and teary.

He hopped from the window, which was at least 20 ft above the ground where she was standing.

Without making as much as a sound, he landed on the marble floor like a big, agile cat.

His white cloak fell by his side and on his broad shoulders, and he rose to his full height-a good 6ft and 4.

He rested his nice looking, big hands on both sides of his hips and grinned at the girl who was way shorter than him.

This was definitely a picturesque moment-a tall sun god and a little pale ghost of a thirteen year old girl, looking up at him with eyes of worship in the stone tower filled with beautifully embroidered manuscripts and sunlight.

But after a second, the tall bronze sun god's blue eyes widened in shock.

"Your-you're bleedin!"

A thin trickle of red blood slipped from her mouth like a drool, and she went "oh..."

* * *

After a few minutes, she was sitting on one of the cushioned marble benches in the tower with angel-sama who was tending to her ripped gum and broken tooth at the left side of her mouth.

She was embarrassed to be opening her mouth wide at the angel-sama. She bet she stinks too, because of all the running, but angel-sama insisted on seeing her broken tooth.

He kept her mouth open by gently pressing his bandaged fingers on her jawline and tilted his face sideways and examined with a frown on his face. She was sure she was going to faint or combust in embarrassment and shyness any moment. But angel sama didn't seem to think that this situation was awkward at all.

"Yeez! That little girl's punch did some real damage, huh?"

She answered while opening her mouth wide open, "Ah-hah-"

'It's good, well not good, but still good that she didn't get your front teeth. And you're lucky, kid! It was a wisdom tooth! You need to get that out sooner or later."

He made the last remark by making a wide grin and giving her a thumb's up.

She gave him a shaky smile and mimicked his thumb's up, but with shyness and uncertainty.

"So you distracted those two girls with your tooth, huh? That's pretty genius!"

"I-I..th-thank you-"

"It was hilarious!" He wrapped his stomach with his arms and threw his head back, "seeing those two just race for a broken wisdom tooth. You made it really convincing too. By wrapping it with the red thread. That was the fastest I ever saw someone wrap a wound."

"I...I-" gosh, why can't she get her words out? he's looking at him, waiting for her to say something interesting, "I...do-do...crochet..."

"Oh..."

She was screaming in her mind again, 'Gahh! That was so lame! So so lame! Now he must think I am like an old lady,'

He scratched the back of his head, "Is it the thing you do with wooden chopsticks and yarn?"

She was too mortified of her failure to "showcase her charm," as Haruno would put it, "Ye-yes..."

"That's so amazing!"

Unaccustomed to receiving such profuse compliments, she bowed her head and blushed furiously. Is this what books call "butterflies in the stomach?" She thought that was the grossest thing to imagine, but right now she felt like she was in a the middle of a flower field even though it was snowing outside.

Surprisingly, angel sama was a lot more down to earth than she would've ever imagined. He was talkative but never let this train of words deflect from his caring touches on her face, and he laughed and frowned and growled and then laughed again at the smallest things. He had a myriad of facial expressions, and Hyuuga never knew how he had the power to make her feel both comfortable and standing at the tip of her toes.

But alas, happiness was too flitting.

"Well, I know you're one of the candidates, so I can't hold you on forever."

Angel-sama rose from his seat and brushed off the snow flakes that drifted from the opened crack of the windows and settled on his knee.

Her eyes widened as she froze, but the angel didn't see the effect of his words.

He turned and stared down at her and smiled, "Good luck, kid."

When he was about to leave, her heart started pounding like a drum, and miraculously, she, the shy, struggling outcast of the school, blurted out what she was dying to know.

" _Chotto matte!"_

He stopped and turned a little, raising an inquisitive eyebrow at her, "Huh?"

"Are-are you..."

She bit her lip and swallowed the lump in her throat. Her next words were so hard to hear that angel-sama had to crouch over to listen.

"are you...the Second Waker sama?"

Even she didn't expect the heavy weight of silence that nobody can slice through.

He stood there and looked down at her with the most unreadable expression he ever had in his face. As if someone knocked on the back of his head with a rubber hammer. His mouth was slightly apart as his blue eyes zeroed on her blushing face and closed eyes.

Then, "AHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

She lifted her head and stared wide-eyed at the tall, tan sun god wrapping his eyes with his hand as his entire body shook at the aftermath of his guffaw.

She was somehow impressed by how large a person's mouth can be as she saw him slowly settling into a calm, a relatively calm state that is.

He was bending over, as he wiped a tear that formed at his squinting left eye as he tried to catch his breath.

As he panted, he finally got his words out, "Hey...what's your name?"

She froze for a moment, but fearing that she'll lose this moment to tell him her name and he'll leave, she yelled, "Hyu-Hyuga, sir!"

He raised himself to his full height and placed his right hand on his hip while resting one by his side, shaking his head while smiling warmly, "Hyuuga, there's something I must tell you."

Then he placed both of his large hands on her tiny shoulders.

He looked straight into her wide, light lavender eyes with the most serious expression she has seen and said "I am...hundred times the man the Second Waker is."

He continued, "And..."

He then lifted his hands from her shoulders and turned and stretched both of his arms toward the sky, "That teme!"

"No-no, that...guy...He's the most ugliest guy you'll ever lay eyes on, Hyuuga! I'm way more better looking than him!"

"Bu-but," Hyuuga pointed her index fingers against each other, "but so many girls li-like hi-"

"Yeah, at first girls get attracted to his so-called "mysterious aura," but honestly, if you give a closer look at his face, he's just average."

"Oh..."

He leaped over to the 20 ft away window still and turned slightly to the gaping girl, "So Hyuuga, definitely don't confuse me with that ugly, black hearted bastard!"

And then he smiled, again that adorably crinkled blue eyes and handsome lips forming into a sly smile, "And I hope to see yah around."

As soon as he leaped off and disappeared, the sky turned dark, and Hyuuga was left in the cold stone tower alone.

That night, she was in love.

* * *

Haruno realized that there was something strange in Hyuuga's demeanor after the Filtration exam.

She was really glad to have Hyuuga remain with her in the Waker's Pearl candidates' game. Even though others doubted Hyuuga's abilities, including some teachers, she believed that she would persevere. Even though Hyuuga looked like a weak flower, she wasn't someone others can easily trample.

But what put her off guard was her white-eyed friend's strange behavior after what people considered her miraculous passage into the second phase.

To be honest, she didn't think of Hyuuga as the sharp type, but she was zoning off in a distance way too often. As if her mind is wandering off into a land of sunshine even when they are training in the snow while their hands and feet were getting frostbites.

And she would blush like her cheeks are in fire even without being provoked by the girls or reprimanded by her teachers. And her peers' jeering and Hidan's scolding did nothing to snap her back into reality or efface her little smile.

After training, Hyuuga would amble around the Western courtyard that has a caged basement that is unaccessible to even the teachers. Even Haruno doesn't know what the basement had, so she dismissed it as some abandoned quarter in the vast palace of the Realm.

If Haruno wasn't madly in love herself with her 'special someone,' she might have dismissed her habits as another strange nervous tics.

One time she sneaked up behind Hyuuga, as she whispered and daydreamed.

"...Angel sama..."

* * *

Hyuuga was sitting in one of the benches in the Western courtyard's botanical garden that was close to the underground library tower where she first met her angel.

She kept remembering how her angel guffawed at even the mention of the "Second Waker sama."

She remembered what Haruno told her the night before the Wakers' Banquet: He's not just handsome, Hyuuga! He's the most handsomest man you can ever see in your life! You can never mistake him for anyone else, Hyuuga. The minute you see him, you'll know he's the Second Waker!

'I thought I could tell who the Second Waker sama is, if I just have the chance to see him. Guess not...'

But Good God, how handsome angel sama was...The gold hair that reminded her of the golden retriever puppies they keep in the palace. And his radiant blue eyes and the adorable dimples beneath his eyes and on his cheeks that reminded her of cat's whiskers.

"Angel sama?"

"Eek!"

Hyuuga almost fell off the marble bench. 'Gosh, did I just say Angel sama's name out loud?' She felt like she was going to die out of embarrassment.

Now she just has to fake-

"Hyuuga, you like someone, don't you?"

Too late.

"Wh-What-I-I don't kno-know what you mea-"

"Stop doing that with your fingers, Hyuuga, and just tell me."

Haruno sighed and raked her smooth pink hair over with her hands. And she looked straight into Hyuuga with a look of fiery determination.

"Is the person you like...the Second Waker sama?"

At first, Hyuuga was too shocked to hear her words, but she shook her hands frantically.

"No!"

For Haruno chan to even consider her liking the person whom angel sama called "black-hearted" and "mean" and "ugly" and "cold"... where did she get that idea, she wondered.

"I-I de-definitely do-don't like him!"

Haruno's shoulders noticeably relaxed a bit, but she kept scrutinizing Hyuuga with her apple green eyes.

But her eyes grew hostile as Hyuuga said what was in her mind for the first time, making Hyuuga immediately regret her hasty words.

"I-I heard th-that he-he's the most awful person you can meet."

With rage boiling in her heart, Haruno yelled at her.

"Don't say that, Hyuuga! Whoever said that is a dirty liar!"

Hyuuga didn't know she had it in her, but now she felt an unfamiliar surge of anger at her best friend's words.

"No! He-he's the kindest per-person! The one I like!"

"Well Hyuuga, sorry to say this, but the person you like must be just really jealous of the Second Waker sama!"

And something that Hyuuga didn't even dream of happening occurred. She was fighting with her best friend Haruno.

* * *

"What happened?"

was what the raven-haired man with deep obsidian colored eyes asked when he took in the bruises on her face and averted light purplish white eyes that still held the heat of battle.

Hyuuga glanced up at his face and then a small pout surfaced on her round face as she looked down on his black suede boots.

She was sure she looked really dirty, but the tall man before her, who was at least 6ft and 4 tall, was as immaculate and handsome as ever in the most detached way that would send boys and men into throes of jealousy over how effortless he looked. Even in the middle of winter, he had the smell of rain and sun-bleached grass that would send girls' hearts rolling in anticipation of a warm summer in the forest greens.

With his perfect skin that girls even can't get with all their facial treatments, and silken, wispy, dark hair that always fell by the shapely contour of his jaw, even his smooth, large, pale hands that suggested their latent strength...

He looked every bit superior and unattainable, like a demi god she read in her novels and history books, making her want to cower in shame over her disheveled state.

In the other hand, in the tall adult's eyes, her clenched fists at her side and refusal to look at his eyes and the dirt on the side of her mouth, her usually smooth hair ruffled as if she took a roll down the hill made her look like a stray kitten getting punished for causing trouble.

He found himself wanting to rub his thumb over the side of her mouth that had dirt clinging stubbornly. Of course, he didn't let the Hyuuga know what was in his mind.

Hyuuga internally groaned, 'Why am I always seeing messenger sama when I am at my worst? Why can't he see me when I am clean and presentable, smiling and talking with Haruno chan?'

It saddened her that the first words whenever her savior and counselor sees her is a subdued "What happened." She just wants to earth to swallow her up.

While Hyuuga was being unusually quiet, Uchiha found it a little odd but he decided to change the subject. He pointed to the caged door at the end of a long winded arcaded corridor Hyuuga was loitering around, "You want to go in here."

He looked more like a owner talking to his kitten who wants to go outside to play than someone posing a question.

Hyuuga nodded, still staring down at his shoes.

Uchiha nodded after her and then turned toward the caged iron cast bar entrance she was facing.

"Messenger sama, it's going to be hard to open without a..."

It was sheer good luck that she was able to open the door with her byakugan, but she can't anymore because there was a heavy seal encrypted on the lock, toughening the barrier.

He produced a heavy bundle of keys from underneath his large, dark cloak, and Hyuuga cannot help but think he was a perfect picture of a tall, stately doorkeeper, with his draping, black cloak, and long suede dark boots that made heavy sounds of thudding on granite and marble.

When he opened the caged door as if it was always open, the cool shadow welcomed him as the darkness spread across his impassioned features like he was the Grim Reaper going back to the underworld.

Meanwhile, the girl behind him smiled like a pixie fairy doused in light as she followed him into the dark. Having a little fairy follow him to the dark, the man's face remained as dark and grim as ever.

For some reason, he, the ruler of the shadows, mist, and lightning of the Realm felt inadequate next to the lilting fairy. In his mind, he was no more than a lost, hateful boy holding onto a bright red rose.

She didn't know what she was getting herself into as she followed him into the abyss like a little angel following the Pied Piper.

* * *

He didn't know for how long he didn't get a good hour of sleep. He was exhausted. He was so tired.

When people are pushed to the brink of exhaustion, they either pass out completely or succumb to a maniacal state that drives those away. For Uchiha, he snaps into a vulnerable state of depression and compulsive mania that he doesn't want anyone to find out about. He likes solitude but hates pity disguised scorn. He doesn't understand why people act so full of themselves. He doesn't believe in their compliments either.

The demon whispers to him.

 _This was all you would ever amount to. You can never finalize your revenge for your father, mother, and the brother whom you enslaved yourself to kill with your joke of were never worth anything, and your struggles are futile at best._

 _When your brother Itachi became the true overlord of the Realm, the unprecedented god of the moon and shadows, the one who brought smoke and rain, your only choice was to be Orochimaru's puppet. At better days, his bitch._

"It didn't take long for me to kill him after I killed Itachi" he answered with cold sweat making his palms feel clammy.

The demon inside him hissed with glee as it enveloped his cloak clad body with black smoke.

 _Konoha, wasn't it? The town you were born and raised?_

"Shut up," Uchiha whispered as he covered his squinting eyes with his cold, clammy hand. His voice was so strangled that it sounded like a plea.

But the demon cackled instead of showing pity or remorse. It drank in the sight of the mighty Uchiha struggling to not fall in the throes of despair and self loathing.

 _A loving mama, a stern and strong papa, and an oniisan you can't get enough of._

Now the powerful ruler shrunk to the corner of his mind, trying to shut the voices away.

 _After your brother killed off your family, you searched the nook and cranny of earth for him. You proclaimed yourself an avenger but deep inside, you were nothing more than a long lost ghost child that nobody misses._

Uchiha didn't even have the energy to tell the demon to shut up. He had slung himself down in the corner of his majestic private suite like a sack of forgotten corn.

The demon continued the tale that riles up the Uchiha no matter how many times he renders it with the same details and drawling speed that is designed to prolong his agony.

 _Yes, yes the lone Avenger sought everywhere for his brother who massacred his clan. Everywhere he went, from the frozen isles to the volanic deserts, he was subject to slavery, betrayal, torture, hunger and at times the slavery in the arms of heavily perfumed, powerful women who only gave him the power he asked for when he grovelled under their legs and between their legs._

Uchiha stared ahead of him with empty eyes. He remembered the day he got to finally reach Orochimaru, who was at that time, the only earthly mediator between his world and the Realm.

 _So you are my favorite's new toy, aren't you?_

Orochimaru's favorite giggled and screamed with a histrionic pitch, "My love, he is the cutest, begging me to let him meet you in person. I was almost jealous!"

 _So you want power?_

The long haired man with a sickly pallor narrowed its eyes at the boy who merely bowed his head in silence.

 _All your years toiling and eating dirt were for nothing._

That is why I am asking you to take me to the Realm!

 _Hoho...your toy is quite the spirited one, isn't he, my favorite?_

His favorite purred and gazed at him with hungry eyes that made the young Uchiha's skin crawl in aversion and disgust. Ever since he had to swallow in the urge to vomit at the seeking touches of women.

He was willing to go through any hell, violence of even the worst, perverted kind, as long as he can reach Itachi. It's just that he expected to train in a way that breaks his own bones and tears his muscles, but he never imagined that he had to be a molested puppet in order to reach his goal of destroying Itachi.

 _Forget it, Uchiha. Itachi is no longer the mere mortal he used to be. He became what would be deemed as a "spirit" by normal humans like you. He is more powerful than anyone I know, even me. And you are not even worthy of licking my shoes, AHAHAHAHAHA!_

 _And you think. You think you can kill him! Ahahahaha!_

I..will do anything. Just take me to the realm.

For a moment, Orochimaru didn't say anything but just observed the half naked man whose neck, wrists, and ankles were bound to chains like an animal.

His favorite was lavish in her affections, he noticed, as he looked at the burnt marks and lacerations eveywhere on his marble smooth, pale skin.

 _Fine. But what you suffered will be nothing in comparison to the affliction waiting for you in paradise._

Orochimaru sniggered at the irony of his words.

The bound man with overgrown man smirked, much to Orochimaru and his bitch's surprise.

He croaked, in a voice full of fatigue and vile emotions, "It doesn't matter. Everywhere is hell for me."

The demon's mad cackle pulled him from his reveries.

 _And indeed, Orochimaru was right! It took you years of 'servicing' as his spitoon and experiment to finally stand in front of the Second Waker, the Gemini of the moon and storms, the one and only Uchiha Itachi._

 _Oh irony, irony! When the moon god turned into his loving brother at his final breath, his immortal body dying of a perennial tumor that latched on his heart since he killed his parents_

 _He was waiting for the one Liberator, his younger brother who came in like a dark horse!_

Uchiha huddled into himself, his hair falling by his side like silk.

Then his demon started to sprout heads of Orochimaru, his mother, and the headless body of Orochimaru's favorite, and Itachi with bleeding eyes—

 **EEEEEEEEE! You the cursed! And you'll then never ever ever!**

And that is when Uchiha rose, his eyes glowing blood red and dark tomoes swirling in their wild tempest,

* * *

"Kyah, Waker sama!"

The tall sun god swerved and ran toward the Second Waker's room.

The room was completely ripped apart as if the Hound of Baskerville went rampant in the large, kingly space. Blood was matted to the ceiling, walls, and floor. It became a hushed knowledge that whenever the Second Waker sama was in one of his "moods," he'll drag in Orochimaru's dedicated student Kabuto's experiments into his bed room and struck them down with fury and vengeance that sent the Akatsukis' stomach reeling.

Uzumaki groaned. He then turned to the shivering servant, "Where did he go?"

"I-I…"

"Never mind. Go get some rest. I'll look for him."

Now where did Uchiha go?

* * *

Hyuuga was about to activate her byakugan to find her footing down the stairs winding around the library pillar.

But Uchiha halted her by placing his gloved hand over her eyes.

"Me-messenger sama, I have to see so we can—"

But before she can complete her reasoning, she felt the cool touch of his hand leaving her eyes and heard the sound of his cloak fluttering in the air.

Hyuuga gasped. Did he? Did he just jump off the top of the two hundred stairs!?

But before she can cry out his name, the messenger sama flittered down the rabbit hole darkness and produced ephemeral light everytime he pushed his feet on the wall.

She couldn't even see how he flipped the satellite dish sized mirrors that were installed on the tower wall, because he was so fast. Nonetheless, seeing messenger sama fall down the tower and light up the mirrors was breathtaking. The speed and flightiness in which he was able to lit the tower up as he descended the two hundred story high air was superior to anything she had seen during her three years of training with the Akatsukis.

As she stared down while hanging precariously over the stair railings, she saw the light following the tiny visage of messenger sama who plummeted to the shrinking hole of darkness.

"Who are you, messenger sama?"

* * *

After an hour of intense training of soaring and descending down the walls, Hyuuga finally got to sit down with Messenger sama between the giant book shelves on the bottom level of the library tower.

Hyuuga thought 'It kind of feels silly to be sitting on the floor behind the book shelves with a grown up like messenger sama...We must look like school children trying to avoid class time.'

The thought of tall, stoic messenger sama hiding behind the book shelves to avoid a harsh disciplinarian teacher like Hidan sensei made her giggle a bit.

She tucked her knees close to her chest and surreptitiously glanced at his profile, 'But he doesn't seem to mind at all.'

As he always did, he was closing his eyes as if he is in deep thoughts or asleep, crossing his arms in a leisurely fashion. His brows would furrow time to time, but then his entire face would relax as his pale lips open apart slightly, revealing perfect upper teeth.

Then his nose would wrinkle, in a way that Hyuuga has to admit looks quite cute, and he would unconsciously purse his lips while frowning at whatever was invading his dreamland.

'Being a guard in the palace must be really hard,' the little girl started feeling bad for her messenger same,'he looks really tired whenever I see him.'

She always thought messenger sama as a superior adult who always demonstrated perfection in his bearing and skills.

'But...I've never seen him sleep like this. He looks...like he's nineteen...or twenty.'

But to Hyuuga, nineteen still seemed too grown up. She was after all still thirteen.

'But if angel sama was nineteen...or twenty,'

She blushed. Even though nobody would dare refute the fact that messenger sama is exceedingly good looking, right now all her thoughts are evolving around gold fuzzy hair, deep blue, wide-eyed orbs, and his robust, energetic voice. She loved how angel sama's eyes would draw into thin slits whenever he makes that splitting grin on his face, and he had the most adorable dimples beneath his eyes and beside the ends of his lips. The memory of talking to him was all she was replaying in her mind.

She loved-

"You... been here before."

A deep, slightly gravelly voice popped her bubbly reveries, and she quickly looked up at messenger sama. She blushed. Was he staring at her while she was smiling like a looney by herself? The dark circles beneath his grey eyes showed her that he needed a lot more sleep than he was getting, and if she didn't have an understanding of his glum personality, she would've thought he was being angry or at least annoyed at her.

"Ah-ho-how did you-?"

"Nobody knows of this place except the security. And you wanted to come in."

He went straight to his question, his dark eyes hardening slightly, "When?"

She cannot keep her eyes away from his face that was staring down at her with this look that would hold any person captive.

After three years of meeting him time to time, she learned that her kind messenger sama just happened to look cold and uncaring of her feelings on the outside. He is actually very considerate and thoughtful, even if the trainings he make her go through do take her out of her comfort zone.

If he was really as cold and cruel as lizard chan and Zetsu senses say, it would make it easier for Hyuuga to fabricate some excuse for coming to this hidden library tower.

'But since it's messenger sama...'

She felt like hiding the truth from him was worse than lying to Zetsu senses or other Akatsuki senseis, even though they were way higher in rank than a mere palace guard.

Another thing that Hyuuga learned is that messenger sama is incredibly attractive, but he also can look really miserable. Whenever he had the look like he was all by himself in the world, she felt so bad for him that she would get mad at herself for how little she can do for him.

So the last thing she should do is lie to him.

"I..I...met someone here, messenger sama,' she poked her fingers together and bowed her head, "And-and, I was wondering...if I can see him again."

She was so absorbed by the heat rising in her cheeks that she had to bow her head low. She kept talking, hoping that she didn't look too silly. He was quiet while she spoke so she just assumed that messenger sama was listening.

"I-I was thinking about him today...It embarrasses me to say this, but...the-there is ne-never a day when I don't think of him..."

Even now she cannot keep a smile from spreading over her lips.

He dryly replied, "I see."

"and the person I mentioned...said stuff about the Second Waker that...wasn't so nice."

"Is that so?"

If she wasn't too enamored with the thought of the angel sama, she would've noticed the hint of irritation in his monotonous voice.

"Bu-but then I got in a fight with my best friend Haruno...be-because she re-really likes the Second Waker sama...

He wryly replied with a "Hmm."

"Me-messenger sama, have you ever seen the Second Waker?"

He crossed his arms and shot her an arrogant, cold look, "Why do you think I should answer you?"

Seeing her slightly flinch made him grumble out his question, "What do you want to know?"

"Wh-what kind of...person is he?"

He can barely contain his snarl, "What did your so-called 'angel sama' say?"

"Umm...he said that...he is mean...and,"

He waited for the next word on baited breath.

"Ugly."

He made a short expletory laughter as he faced the other side, "Ha.."

He refused to have eye contact with her. If she didn't know better, she would've mistaken his gesture as pouting.

"A-are you okay, messenger sama?"

He just smoothed out his dark bangs in front of his face and tried his best to hide his scowl from the thirteen year old. Hyuuga thought she just saw a slight pink color dusting on the ridge of his nose and cheeks.

Then suddenly suspicion started to rise in her heart.

Suddenly it was now messenger sama who was shyly averting his gaze as Hyuuga peered into his face.

Her pale lavender eyes studied his features very carefully. Then she turned to herself and shook her head while calmly closing her eyes, reminiscing on what angel sama said.

 _"He's the most ugliest guy you'll ever lay eyes on, Hyuuga! I'm way more better looking than him!"_

'My angel sama would never lie to me,' she thought.

Just by his looks, nobody would deem him as a mere lowly palace guard. Having grown up in the palace, Hyuuga did not only receive top notch training in martial arts and cultural activities like brewing tea, she also learned how socially stratified the palace and the rest of the Realm is.

Just like the world she came from, there were peasants and rulers, manual workers and aristocrats. There were crippled, stubby fingered women who are responsible for beautifying the Waker's Pearl candidates who came from prestigious backgrounds.

Sadly, Hyuuga was so way below the social ladder that even the servants whose job is to wash the silk stockings and clean the toilet openly scorn her, viewing her more or less as someone who takes up space.

And honestly, she can't blame them and much of the time, she agrees. She is just someone who takes up space.

Even though she hates the idea of judging someone based on their looks, the messenger's beautiful and manly facial features, upfront stature, and icy demeanor were more fitting for a more honorable title like the "Knight of Silver" or even the highest social ranking of an Akatsuki, than a humble door guard.

'So why is such a gifted, strong-minded individual like messenger sama not getting promoted through these three years I've known him?' she wondered.

She stared at his worn out impression. And then an epiphany hit her.

'Could...could it be that messenger sama also has lowly roots? Like me?'

She almost clapped her hands together in this thunderous revelation.

'That's why! That's why messenger sama is always worked to his bones without getting promoted!'

She scratched the bottom of her chin with her finger, a habit she does whenever she is deep in thought,

'But...that's so unfair...Messenger sama is so kind, responsible, and strong. I'm...weak and a scaredy cat, so it makes sense that I don't get good treatment but...he shouldn't have to go through this.'

"Me-messenger sama?"

"Hm?"

His gaze snapped up to her eyes and his broad, well formed shoulders flinched a bit under his cloak. Hyuuga started to feel a bit suspicious again. Was he observing her without saying anything?

"Messenger sama...may-may I ask you something?"

Meanwhile, he swallowed in an inaudible gulp. Did she finally find out? He carefully nodded, trying to look as nonchalant as possible.

"Messenger sama...who is the one you serve?"

"...What?"

Hyuuga didn't quite catch his dumbfounded expression, but she talked with such earnestness that he felt he had to give some answer.

"...The First and the Second Wakers."

Technically, he wasn't lying. Everyone in the Realm must abide to the First and Second Wakers. So it makes sense.

"I...I think it-it is very unfair-for-for you to work so hard and not get any award...I am slow in learning and not even pretty, so it makes sense that I don't get any, but...messenger sama is strong and very talented" she took in a deep breath, "I-I can write a petition to-to the Waker samas and ask them..them to con-consider you for-for a be-better job than a door guard."

He became speechless. Hyuuga started feeling a bit anxious and self-doubtful, seeing the usually calm and composed messenger sama so surprised.

'I hope I am not offending messenger sama…'

She squeezed her eyes shut in shyness and embarrassment, "Would-would you like me to?"

The silence was so heavy that she felt she can hear the wind rustling the pages of the books that were placed by the windows.

'Oh no, I must've offended-'

"Sure."

"!"

He finally got to straighten himself up and stare right into her eyes, looking as calm as ever. But for some reason, Hyuuga felt that the way he looked at her warmed her heart and soon her entire being.

'Me...someone like me...can be of help...to someone like messenger sama.'

Her chest was thumping so hard that she was afraid it would burst of sheer excitement and happiness.

She quickly rose from her seat on the floor and made a motion to fly up the stairs so she can start writing her letter to the First and Second Wakers.

But she soon felt a strong hand grabbing her wrist.

Her face flushed hot at the unfamiliar sensation of carefully wrapped fingers and his soft, velvety voice.

"Wait."

He was still on the floor, as he gazed up at her face as he held her wrist. He looked up to her.

"...Just...send it to the Second Waker."

She looked at him puzzled, "Wouldn't it be better if I write to them both?"

She would think that it would be easier for him to get promoted if she talks to both of the rulers, instead of just one.

The man shook his head quietly and then raised his eyes, those startlingly mesmerizing depths of blackness that gripped her heart whenever she stared at them.

"The First doesn't need to know."

She tilted her head in confusion, but he just mumbled his excuse that the Second has more authority, while averting his eyes from her face and still gripping her arm.

Even though she cannot deny the latent strength in those long fingers, she can still sense that messenger sama was trying to be as gentle as possible with her.

She had others like Haruno and lizard chan treat her a lot more brutally.

Then she smiled, a bright smile that had the effect of stunning the stoic man into prolonged silence, "Yes..."

When messenger sama didn't say anything but continued to hold on her wrist, his fingers trailing down to the palm of her hand, she started to fidget.

"Me-messenger sama...I-I have to go."

At her words, he snapped out of whatever trance he was in and he shifted awkwardly as he released her hand.

"Oh...yeah."

Hyuuga smiled, a very shy smile, and then raced up the stairs, and all he can hear were the sounds of her feet dissipating as seconds flew by.

Left alone, Uchiha sighed into his hands as he covered his blushing face.

He thanked the solitude as he wondered aloud, "What is...happening to me?"

* * *

Preview of next ch- to be full of angst

Lizard chan: Hey, I can forward the letter to the Second for you.

Hyuuga (Hinata): Thank you, lizard chan! But please be careful!

Uzumaki (Karin): Hey, snake! What's that around your neck?!

Haruno (Sakura): Hyuuga...you lied to me? All this time? All these years?

Hyuuga (Hinata): Haruno, please trust me!

Uchiha pushes Hyuuga to the cliff in front of the Waker's Pearl candidates.

"!"

Will she survive?

Next time on Waker's Pearl!


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Don't forget to post your reviews! You don't know how much I re-read your reviews when I felt down and depressed. Very very long chapter, so hold tight!

Note: There are two Wakers, two Waker's Pearls for each. Because Karin's last name is the name as Naruto's, I just decided to call her Karin even though she's a Waker's Pearl candidate haha;; please understand.

* * *

In a darkly lit laboratory that is reminiscent of scientific fiction settings, Kabuto stood by the bodies of his decimated experiments while his student Uzumaki Karin came to him.

Kabuto's dark eyes behind round glass rims glinted furiously as he saw the broken glass cases that used to store his precious live experiments. The greenish fluid that gave life to his experiments flooded the floor, the putrid smell scorning him.

Ever since he learned to school his expression after the death of Orochimaru, he harbored an homicidal rage against the Second Waker but he can never dare to confront him at his current state.

The Second Waker was far too powerful, and he is not getting weaker any time soon.

But one day he'll make him pay his debt. He just has to wait like a snake in hiding.

"Karin" he ordered sharply as he stopped to pick up a glass shard.

The red haired girl with dark rimmed glasses bowed.

He stood up and crushed the glass in his fist, "Did you detect anything strange about the Hyuuga?"

"No, Kabuto sensei. I am keeping an eye on her whenever I can, but...with the fierce competition amongst the candidates, it is hard to not make it obvious."

"I understand," he said calmly, "your priority is in being the Waker's Pearl and acting as my eye toward the Second."

She bowed her head, her cheeks blushing under the green fluorescent light at the mention of the Uchiha.

Seeing her facial expression, Kabuto smirked. It was to his advantage that his smartest and prettiest student in his cell is in love with the Uchiha like the rest of the girls in the candidacy. It made it easier to manipulate.

"But that shouldn't mean you should ever slack on your duty of spying on the Second's favorite candidate."

Uchiha's favorite candidate obviously referred to the stupid, mute runt of a girl with black hair and pearl white eyes who can't keep her stuttering. Karin's eyes held a glint of malice, smiliar to her teacher's "Yes, sensei. I'll do my best."

"Sensei, but please do not forget your oath," the girl gave a haughty glare to her cell leader, "that you'll give the Second Waker sama to me once you take your revenge."

Kabuto glared back, reminding her that it was he who still held the power. "Only if you succeed in being the Waker's Pearl and find Uchiha's weakness. Know your place, Uzumaki."

He turned against her and walked toward his desk where his files were organized. He picked up a manila folder and carelessly tossed it into the puddle of artificially created embilical water on the floor.

The contents of the folder spilled, and a picture of Hyuuga was drenched with the green, acidic solution and crumpled into shreds at an unnaturally fast speed.

"At this rate, I wouldn't be surprised if the Hyuuga becomes the Waker's Pearl. You're losing your footing, Karin."

At his provoking words, Karin gritted her teeth and clenched her fist.

But he wasn't the source of her anger. Her boiling wrath was rather directed to her inability to refute his words, because her gut tells her that she is not winning in this game.

That pupil-less bitch has to go down.

* * *

So how did Kabuto find out about the secret rendezvous between the Second Waker Uchiha and one of the candidates?

It was due to the fact that Uchiha was surprisingly lax in keeping his little secret.

It didn't take a long time for the cunning scientist to observe how the last girl to enter the competition was never seen in the same space as the First or Second Wakers.

The First Waker was always overly rambunctious and energetic, but Kabuto wasn't the one to overgo the nuanced changes in the Second's demeanor.

Kabuto mused, 'The icy ruler was becoming more and more idiotic in his carelessness.'

It was a matter of time till he got Karin to snatch the final piece of evidence that demonstrates his weakness. Soon, his adoring fans, the girls and the Akatsukis, will see how weak and swayable and full of bias he really is.

And Hyuuga will be the bait.

* * *

Meanwhile, seemingly oblivious to the dark plot unravelling around him, the Second Waker was reading a carefully folded letter from one of the thirteen year old candidates to the Waker's Pearl. He was sitting on a dark burgundy red armchair sofa in front of a cozy fireplace in his newly furnished private suite, and the white, feathery dusts of snow were slowly accumulating on the window sills.

An incense candle was burning to get rid of the rank of blood that permeated the room days ago.

 _Dear Second Waker Sama,_

 _Hello, Second Waker Sama, my name is Hyuuga, and I am the hundredth Waker's Pearl candidate. I hope I am not bothering you and this letter reaches to you, because my friends, senseis, and messenger sama all told me that you are very very busy. So I'm so sorry, if I'm bothering you. (TT TT) Didn't mean to..._

 _I wanted to ask you to please, please help messenger sama get a better job. Messenger sama is the one delivering this letter to you. In case you don't know who he is, he is tall, with very black hair, and dark eyes, and he is very very good looking, at least in my opinion... And I think a lot of my peers would agree with me too. I hope I am not offending you by emphasizing how handsome he is. I just want you to be able to know him when you see him, that's all._

The Second Waker scoffed, 'She thinks I'm the jealous type.'

He continued reading the carefully handwritten letter while resting his face on his knuckles.

 _The point is, most honorable Waker sama, he has been working as a palace guard for more than three years, and he always looks very tired. But he never complains or even hints that he's struggling, and he always tries his best to work with diligence. I never see him go home, and a lot of times, I see him late at night after the guards' shifts. So with all due respect, Waker sama, I hope you can help him._

His raven feather-like eyelashes fluttered heavily as he made a very rare smile, his pale lips curved into a levered bow. He flipped the letter to look at the back side, but his smile was quickly replaced with a perplexed frown. Soon the frown turned into a look that showed how indignant and offended the reader felt.

The back side of the letter was occupied with a hastily scribbled line.

 _Thank you so much for reading this letter, Second Waker Sama. Have a great day._

"Ha!"

He then murmured to himself, relaxing back into his armchair and flipping the letter, "She really didn't want to write this letter, did she?"

He stood up and paced back and forth in his spacious living room, 'I mean, even if she hates, no-dislikes me, well the one she technically dislikes is the Second Waker, she should make more effort into writing the letter! Especially if it's a letter of petition!'

Furious, he kept pacing and he pulled the collar of his white shirt that he got from one of his favorite alternate universes in frustration*.

He asked himself, 'Did she just not care about her 'dear messenger sama?''

Uchiha never felt so offended in his life. And disappoint...no, he's not disappointed. He didn't expect anything, nothing at all.

He was going to act as if nothing happened. With a calm, composed demeanor, he'll write a letter pinned as the Second Waker to her. In his perfectly inked letter, he'll say that he carefully perused her messenger sama's credentials and with the professionalism as a ruler, he will decline her request and advise her to use her time and effort more on honing her own skills and talents than being a mediocre advocate for a door guard.

Yes, he'll do that. He sat himself on his black cherry wood desk and pulled up his black Swarovski studded pen.

* * *

"Di-did something go wrong wi-with my letter, messenger sama?"

"Everything."

Was the continuously cool and collected messenger sama...sulking?

"Oh no...why-"

"If you showed half the respect you show me to the Second Waker, I would've gotten promoted."

"Bu-but, I do respect hi-"

"That's not what he felt."

"But I've never even met-"

"Pretend that you've known him all your life."

"That's lying, messenger sama…"

"No, that's called 'tact,'' he spat out his words with spite and then turned his back on her,

To the girl who just didn't know what to do, he contemplated upon the cruelties of the world, "Because your letter offended him so much,, I have to pack my stuff in my office."

He then turned a sideway glance at her and a sardonic smirk graced his lips, "Thanks to you, I'm relieved of my service."

The girl froze into an ice statue at his words.

"Are-are...you gett-getting fi-fired?!"

He withdrew his smirk and talked with a calmness that unsettled the little girl's stomach, "It all depends on how he responds to your next letter."

"Oh no, messenger sama...I'm so sorry...The Second Waker sama is way pettier than I ever imagined."

"I guess I wasn't clear enough. Or maybe your intention was to get me the boot. If that was it, congratulations, you achieved your goal, Hyuuga,"

He resolutely turned, but he did it just slow enough to let Hyuuga grab him by the sleeve of his arm while making himself look convincing.

"Me-messenger sama, please wait! I-I'll wri-write the letter! So please, please persuade him to give me a second chance!"

"Hnn."

"Bu-but...I don't know how to write a letter to him...I gu-guess I have to...flatter him, but I've never seen him."

He turned to her and spoke with impatience, "What do you like about me?"

"Ye-yes?!"

Her face turned completely white. If it wasn't for the dead-serious look on his face, she would've thought he was God forbid, flirting.

"Just refer everything you like about me to the Second Waker.."

"You-you mean...pretend as if I am writing the letter...to you?"

"Yes."

"Bu-but…"

She wanted to add, "That's so childish," but she was scared that messenger sama would really turn his back and walk away.

She stared into his eyes with a gaping mouth like a fish out of water. She hoped he was joking. But everything, from his deep dark eyes that had the shade of cobalt blue, and how his brow furrowed in impatience suggested that he was utmost serious. Did he ever make a joke in his life? She wondered. Then she dropped her shoulders and sighed.

"Okay…"

* * *

 _Dear really cool, awe-inspiring, majestic, lethally handsome, and potent Second Waker Sama,_

A snort. 'Really? What kind of thesaurus is she pulling these words from?"

But the content of the letter did get better.

 _You are really amazing, and you care so much for the people in the palace. You make sure that things go round even if it means you have to work really hard._

 _I really admire that about you. And..._

And she went on and on. One and a half full pages. He can tell that she was doing her best, imagining the petty, mean Second Waker to be her beloved messenger sama.

'Not bad,' he thought.

He was able to thoroughly enjoy the letter because nobody was there to remark on the smile on his face.

Hinata's 'lizard chan' was sitting on his left shoulder and knew it was the best time to shut its clammed jaws up, especially about that unnerving wild-fire on his ears. The Second Waker's burning ears were being a great source of heat for the cold blooded animal.

And the Second Waker laughed, or more like, sniggered into his fist, at the last part of the letter.

 _So would you please promote messenger sama? You wouldn't say no to a lady, right? Right? Please? Sir? My lord?_

He threw his head up and bursted into a muted laughter.

But then frowned again. Because she ended her letter with another misuse of her thesaurus.

 _Highest affections, estolations, and love from_

 _Your humble, little, grovelling, obsequious, miniscule servant, subordinate, subject Hyuuga_

After he settled into a breathless calm, he was still chuckling. He decided that next time he should give her some private lessons in composition.

'She has all the talents. It's the matter of time that she breaks her shell.'

His reptilian subject tilted its head. It never saw its master look so relaxed and expressive in all its years of service. And that warm, unbelievably warm look in his eyes as he stared at the letter…

The lizard thought, 'Master's sense of attachment to Hyuuga doesn't bode well.'

'Hyuuga is too delicate, sincere, and caring as a person. She wouldn't be able to handle being the object of affection to someone so powerful like the Second Waker.' the lizard closed its green eyes, 'Because being loved by the Waker means she has to hurt other people.'

Behind every smile that the handsome, powerful ruler makes to her will be a thousand tears her rivals will shed. If Hyuuga was a selfish person, she wouldn't mind, but her nature isn't meant to be selfish.

'What's worst is...the Second Waker never dealt with rejection...of that kind of sort. I doubt he'll take it well.'

It peered at Uchiha's profile, 'I sense a storm brewing.'

* * *

Hyuuga was just in the middle of finishing her letter to the Second Waker in her small room that she shares with her roommate Haruno.

"Oi, Hyuuga."

She turned to see the pink haired, comely girl leaning on the door still, her long, lean arms crossed.

"Haruno chan…"

Haruno scratched her cheek with her finger and glanced sideways.

"I'm going to the store...Want that sweet swirling bread you always talk about?"

"A-ano, it's okay Haruno chan," after a pause, Hyuuga gathered the courage, "Haruno chan, I am really so-"

But red faced, Haruno cut her words and went out of the room.

"I'll just get it, okay? Stay here."

Haruno kept the door to their room open to grab something to eat.

'I am so lucky to have a friend like Haruno chan...so open minded and full of heart. I was not mad about our dumb fight day before yesterday, but I didn't have the courage to talk to her first. I was scared she was still mad at me...After I finish this letter, I'll get her her favorite ice cream.'

And she proceeded to work with a heightened sense of concentration on her desk.

Then a knock interrupted her.

It was a red haired girl by the name of Uzumaki Karin, coincidentally the same sur name as the First Waker, knocked on the door.

"Hyuuga, Kabuto sensei is calling for you."

"Ka-Kabuto sensei?"

Karin nodded and glanced at her with a haughty look on her dark eyes and left.

"I have to say...I think Ka-Karin san doesn't like me…"

The lizard who was relaxing by the window stills stuck its long pink tongue at her.

"Who cares? That biology teacher's pet is such a stuck up bitch."

"Lizard chan..."

Hyuuga shot a look of reproof at the lizard's use of language, so it merely scratched the back of its head with its hind leg like a dog ignoring its owner's disapproval.

"I don't want to be late for Kabuto sensei...bu-but I need to send this to me-messenger sama..."

Seeing Hyuuga's worried face, it offered,

"Hey, I can forward the letter to the Second for you."

Her face brightened up quickly.

"Thank you, lizard chan! But please be careful!"

"Sure. Don't want those frilly devils find out who you are sending secret letters to."

She rolled the letter and wrapped it with a string that she tied around the lizard's scaly neck.

* * *

As soon as she stepped in Kabuto sensei's laboratory that nobody can access without his permission, she smelt a whiff of ethanol that would bombard lizard chan's senses if it was here.

The room was darkly lit, except for the eerie greenish fluorescent light that cast a sickly glow on the tall, grey haired scientist's pale face. Kabuto was sorting some documents on his desk, either not noticing or ignoring Hyuuga's presence for a while.

Hyuuga wondered, 'I don't know why Kabuto sensei invited me to his special laboratory. I heard that only his special students like Karin or Haruno can enter.'

She shuffled her feet uneasily, 'Could...could it be the drop in my scores for my second midterm exam? Bu...but, even though I wasn't the best...I was definitely not the worst…'

'And to be honest...I kinda like not coming here.' She thought as she peeked at some of the nightmarish, vomit-inducing creatures squirm and then sprawl in the glass tubes. Some of them seemed to have extinguished its flame of light and lie afloat on its bellies. She flinched in noticeable terror when one of the three eyed worm-like creature blinked at her and puffed its polka dotted thraot in its cylindrical glass case.

Finally the scientist faced her fully and adjusted his glasses with his middle finger, "Hyuuga"

"Ye-yes!"

'Ah...stupid me. Stammering again.'

His dark eyes narrowed sharply towards her, making a chill run down her spine.

She never really got to see him this up close. His eyes always seemed to be concealed by the cold glint of his glasses, reflected by the classroom's LED lights. But she noticed the color-dark black.

Kabuto sensei wasn't bad looking at all. In fact, Hyuuga overheard some girls fancying him while they talked during lunch.

But his dark eyes were nowhere near as magnetizing as the pair of eyes she would see time to time. Kabuto sensei's eyes were flat colored, dim, and dark, their only purpose is to scrutinize and judge from afar.

Meanwhile, messenger sama's eyes reminded her of the precious black gem earrings Deidara sensei likes to wear in special parties. But, unlike Deidara sensei's cold jewels, his brilliant, cold eyes would radiate life, warmth, and strength as they notice everything, from the snatch of a catfish's jaw under the palace waters to the most hushed scandal in the remotest regions of the Realm.

Comparing his eyes to messenger's sama's would be like comparing coal to tanzanite.

No matter how promising Kabuto sensei's appearances and genius seemed to be, he looked very lifeless, jaded, and-dare she say-mean spirited, in her eyes. She almost felt bad for him.

'If I had Kabuto sensei's genius and talents...I would think I would be really happy…'

Oblivious to the little mousey girl's scrutiny, Kabuto finally spoke up.

"Hyuuga, I need you to look for a very special herb that grows in the forest behind the Province of Thorny Pines. I'll give you an authorized pass. Do get it for me by evening, would you?"

His face remained stuck to his papers, as he didn't bother to even spare her a glance.

But she was way too relieved, 'So, I'm not in trouble! Yay!'

"Ye-yes, sensei!"

"If you get the herb for me, I'll give you special points."

She could barely contain her surprise, 'Is...is this really Kabuto sensei?'

"Th-thank you so much! I'll make sure I get you the herb!"

Afraid that he'll suddenly stop her and corner her about her mediocre biology grades, Hyuuga rushed out of the laboratory as soon as she received his orders and authorized pass.

'What a lucky day! I was behind in my biology class, so this is perfect!'

When she left, that was when Kabuto finally raised his head from his papers and smirk. The way his dead eyes gleamed and his thin mouth cackle into a triumphant laughter made some of the surviving experiments flinch and struggle at their dying breath and last instinct to evade danger.

* * *

It was too late before lizard-chan heard a young girl's ominous voice behind her.

"Hey, snake! What's that around your neck?!"

As it felt a strong iron grip of thin, slim fingers around its throat, it got lifted to the air. Its scales, opalescent white legs waggled in the air, and its green eyes glared at the girl with hot red hair.

"Le...let me go!"

Ignoring the lizard's cry, Karin tore the rolled letter from the string around its throat. Once she got a good look at the paper, she smiled.

The lizard chomped its menacing, sharp teeth at her, but she only tightened her grip.

"Wait till her 'best friend' sees this..."

* * *

Deep in the forests of the province of Thorny Pines, Hyuuga was scavenging the ground for the special herb Kabuto sensei deployed her to find.

The province of Thorny Pines didn't have the refined beauty and high, expensive taste of the Palace's gardens and ponds, but she grew to appreciate the rustic feel of the wild woods and the fresh air that was untainted by the tension and competition amongst the Waker's Pearl candidates.

Opening the botany manuscript she borrowed from the library, she read the lines, "Ginseng Root Type AB, tends to grow on rocks and prefer humidity and moisture from cliff boulders that overlook waterfalls or river streams."

After activating her byakugan, she sensed the presence of a large body of water not so far.

For about half an hour, she had to hike uphill on the muddy trails, and the trail was so steep that her thighs started to ache from the upscale journey.

But the payback of scaling the steep trail was glorious.

No amount of money, magic, or technology would be able to emulate the grandiosity of the view over the cliff. She can see the mountains enveloped in mist as she stood over the vantage point. The landscape had the power to make even a puny girl like her feel like a conqueror over the mountains and the water beneath.

'Some how this feels like a deja vu,' Hyuuga thought.

'Oh yeah, I remember!' she clapped her hands together, 'when I first met Messenger sama!'

It was mind-blowing to her that three years has already past when she first met messenger sama in the dead of the night, and how he teleported her to the Realm by throwing him and herself over the cliff.

She laughed dryly, 'I honestly thought that was the end of my life.'

But her sense of duty to find the special herbs prompted her to search the grass growing near the cliff.

'Ehh...it's scary,'

She tried her best to avoid looking at the edge of the cliff. Just looking at the end of the rocky platform made her feel a little dizzy. The view was gorgeous, but it also reminded her of how deadly a single trip would be.

'And the trail I took was muddy...no matter how hard and solid the rocky formation might look...it might actually be disintegrating from the inside.'

She knew that if she stayed too long on the cliff, she risks having the rock fragment into pieces and give her away to the dangerous gravity that would plummet her to her watery doom.

She bent over the ground and smelt the tiny mountain flowers, tiny pink stars that grow on soil. Stars that intermittently bloom in the chalky vines that envelop the rocky boulders.

'These look a lot like the picture Kabuto sensei gave me.'

Smiling, she rummaged the contents of her bag, and wore her special latex gloves to avoid damaging the flower's root.

"There she is. Snooping around the ground like a bitch."

She froze at the moment she heard the condescending voices she is well too familiar with. She raised her head.

"Murakami san..."

A red haired girl appeared by side of Murakami.

"Karin san..."

Karin didn't bother to answer Hyuuga's questioning gaze, as she crossed her long arms and called out loud.

"I told you, Haruno that she'll be here."

And what threw off Hyuuga the most was the sudden entrance of her best friend and one of the most well known pupils of the Waker's Pearl candidacy, the strong and beautiful Haruno.

"Hyuuga...how? How are you here?"

The way Haruno stared at her made Hyuuga afraid and very confused. 'What is going on?'

"I-I," even though Hyuuga didn't do anything wrong, she felt a strange lump in her throat, "Ka-Kabuto sensei se-sent me-me on an e-errand."

"Kabuto sensei?" Another bully, Seto raised her voice, "you received some of the failing grades in his class! Why would he send you instead of his trusted favorites like Karin or Haruno?"

"I-I...honestly don't know. Bu-but he-he did send-"

"How are we supposed to trust a compulsive liar like you, Hyuuga?"

"I-I'm-"

"You stole my gift to the Second Waker three years ago, and now you steal the star students' opportunity?"

'What did you do to win Kabuto sensei's favor now, Hyuuga?"

One of her bullies, Takahashi sniggered, "We all know she's dirt poor. How else would she win his favor? Except..."

Hyuuga blushed in shame and anger, and she clenched her fists. She could already tell what those lowly bullies were insinuating with their sly sniggers.

But soon as Haruno took a step forward, they hushed. They didn't want to provoke Haruno. They were well aware of the wirey strength beneath those long, slender arms and legs to know that they shouldn't annoy her.

"We're not here to question you about Kabuto sensei, Hyuuga."

Her eyes were not cold, but they were stern. "Karin here told us...that you..."

As if she herself cannot accept the words she was going to say, Haruno paused.

Then she finally fastened her resolve, "Hyuuga! When you said you don't even know how the Second Waker looked like...were you speaking the truth?"

Stunned, Hyuuga stared at her, "Ha-Haruno chan...Why would you ask-"

But she flinched when Haruno roared at her, "Just answer me! Yes or No?!" Her pink hair covered the sight of her eyes.

Despite the trouble she was in, she cannot help but feel worried for Haruno. 'Why does Haruno chan look like she is in so much pain? I never even saw, left alone, meet the Second Waker.'

"No, Haruno," Hyuuga looked at her straight in the eye, "I have no personal connections to the Second Waker sama."

Haruno still refused to look at her. But her voice that was usually full of spirit and charm became dangerously low.

"If what you said is true, Hyuuga," Haruno turned to the red haired girl and impaled her with her emerald eyes, "I will never let this through, Karin."

Instead of quaking at the sight of an angry Haruno, Karin smirked and crossed her arms.

"If you think I was just making wild claims, I'm disappointed at you Haruno."

Karin then slipped something out from her brown leather belt and tossed it to Haruno.

"See for yourself."

Shooting her a dubious look, Haruno stared at Karin and unfurled the crumbled paper.

It didn't take long for Hyuuga to notice what it was.

Her dry, chapped lips quivered, "Oh no..."

When Haruno finally lifted her face up from the crumbled letter, her beautiful green eyes screamed of disbelief and betrayal, "Hyuuga...you lied to me? All this time? All these years? Even just now?!"

She can feel the flare of deadly chakra emanating from her best friend, "Haruno, please trust me!"

"Trust? After lying to me all these years that you don't even know the Second Waker, you speak of 'trust?'"

Hyuuga can feel the tears streaming from her eyes. She was hurt. Oh, so hurt. She can handle the mocking and shoving of her bullies and their friends, but from Haruno? She never knew it was possible to get this hurt.

"Haruno, I was writing to him for my best friend! I wasn't-"

Takahashi peered into the letter Haruno was still holding and read with an air of exaggeration and extreme disgust, "'Dear wonderful, almighty, great, handsome Second Waker sama?' Hyuuga, do you have any sense of shame or decorum?"

Hyuuga blushed furiously at Takahashi's sarcastic enunciation of her handwritten letter, "That...that's-"

Seto teamed up, "Haruno was so good to you!"

But what she said next literally ripped Hyuuga's heart into two, "Do you know why she decided to be friends with you? She was so nice, she can't refuse you!"

And what Takahashi said swapped her world upside down, "Haruno chan actually hates you, Hyuuga! Whenever you come up to her, she will tell us how annoying you are. She tells us that you're a bother and you can't get a clue about how she hates you and wants to get rid of you!"

Hyuuga lied prostrated on the ground, unable to raise her face streaming with tears. She made a weak, trembling effort to speak,

"Ha-Haruno chan...is-is...it true? You-you...hated...being with me?"

Haruno didn't say anything for a while. She stared down at how her friend bowed before her, crying and shivering with cold, emerald eyes.

Finally she opened her mouth, "Yes."

Hyuuga froze, wide-eyed.

She continued lashing at her ex best friend with her words, "You had such a bad reputation that...I was getting treated as if I was some outcast.

But at least, I thought you weren't a liar. So I tried to be by your side. But I was getting tired of that too, to be honest.

There has to be a thing called 'give and take' in any relationship, even friendship, Hyuuga. But with you and me..."

She didn't want to believe her ears, "Haruno chan..."

"Stop calling me 'Haruno chan!'" Haruno screamed, "You're like a leech! You always take from me! You took my popularity with my friends and my time! Why can't you be good at least one thing, Hyuuga? You're useless!"

Hearing someone who used to be her best friend, Hyuuga felt something in her snap into two, or maybe, clash into a million pieces. Maybe, it was her heart?

'This can't be true...' She wanted to deny that this was happening to her.

Meanwhile, Karin was smiling as she watched the broken Hyuuga and angry, crazed Haruno. Things were going as she wanted it.

But before Hyuuga can even process that this is her reality, she felt a sandaled foot kick her from the side.

The one who kicked her was Seto, "Get out of here! You're not worthy to be our competitor!"

But Seto didn't realize the dark and powerful presence of someone behind her and the hushed silence of her peers.

"Se-Second Waker sama!"

She turned and nearly fainted at seeing the tall man who practically towered above her height, his dark eyes flickering into blood red for an instant.

Seto would've gawked and fangirled screamed her head off and latch onto his arm, but the way his eyes fired up with cold rage paralyzed her.

Even without the need to utter an order, the Second Waker successfully got Seto to back off and clear his way to the shivering girl with white eyes.

"Me...messenger sama."

He stared down at her wet face with impassioned eyes and didn't say anything. Then he turned, his dark cape moving as he faced the group of girls.

"Se-Second Waker sama..."

The way the pink haired Haruno uttered his name as if it was an answer to her long prayers, with a pleasing blush on her lovely face, did nothing to this stoic demeanor.

In fact, when she said his name, his eyes were glazed with a startling coldness that held her aback, including Karin.

But he withdrew his eyes from Haruno and spoke evenly to his young audience, "It is true that I had high expectations of the Hyuuga, because of her bloodline limit. That is why I approached her."

He glanced down at the girl who was still too confused. It was as if a chakra laden bomb dropped from the sky after she barely survived a tornado.

'Me..messenger sama is...the Second Waker? But...no...it can't be. The one Haruno loves...is Messenger sama?'"

Without giving Hyuuga a time to accept this nightmare, the messenger-no, the Second Waker continued to speak as if every word he articulates breathes of ice.

"But she proved herself to be an ill fit. A far cry from a Waker's Pearl material."

And with that, he raised his arm. His dark cape moved like a powerful flap of an eagle's wing, as he heartlessly pushed the little Hyuuga to the bottom of the cliff. He could've just dropped a kitten into the well and move away as emotionless as he did, when he killed Hyuuga.

"!"

Despite herself, Haruno screamed and rushed to the edge of the cliff, "Hyuuga-!"

But before she can reach to where she last saw Hyuuga, the Second Waker blocked her way by catching her in his arms.

As quickly as he caught her, he promptly removed her from the accidental embrace.

After shaking the blushing girl off, he turned away from the girls, "From now on, no one is to remind me of my mistake."

His voice was cold and devoid of emotion, only filled with logic, "Hyuuga is my failure. If anyone mentions her, I'll have take away that person's qualifications."

* * *

When Hyuuga blinked her eyes open, she felt the texture of something smooth, cold, and scaley beneath her cheek and hands. As if she was lying on a giant, scaly body pillow that was cold and cool to the touch.

"Are you awake?"

At the familiar voice, laced with sarcasm and boredom, she raised herself up.

"Li...lizard chan?"

A giant green reptilian eye blinked at her. She saw the reflection of her frightened and surprised self in that giant green eye with yellow fire around the dark pupil.

"Bu-but...li-lizard chan, you-you're so...so big!"

"Yeah, this is my true form."

Hyuuga vaguely remembered Uchiha's first hand account of how he met and made a contract with lizard chan, 'So this is lizard chan's true form...No wonder, messeng-no, the Second Waker has such hard time capturing him.'

"Now that you're awake, we have somewhere to go."

As the giant lizard, the size of a mansion, rose to its full height, she felt as if the earth behind her was shaking, the stones beneath the stream groaning in protest of the serpent's colossal weight.

"Where-where are we going?"

"The Uchiha has prepared some place for you," the lizard ambled slowly, but its size gave it the advantage of taking large, stadium sized strides,

"You'll like it."

* * *

*The Realm is also the portal to multiple alternate universes, and the reason he is not often at the Realm is he likes to travel in solitude across the different time periods and worlds.

* * *

"Why are you so obtuse?!"

A loud crash and spilt miscellaneous liquids on the floor stunned the red haired girl.

She thought she accomplished her mission...at least in one way or the other.

But why is her master so furious?

Kabuto withdrew his glasses from his face and threw them violently on the floor.

He raked over his grey bangs with his long, nervous looking fingers and seethed in rage and exasperation.

'Uchiha, Uchiha, Uchiha...always getting in the way and making a fool out of me. That fucker.''

"I ordered to you to make sure that you, YOU are the one to kill her. But look at what you did. You let her slip away from your fingers like a fucking tadpole or lab rat!"

Meanwhile, Karin managed to look cool as a cucumber. She wasn't deemed a star student for nothing. If anything, Her ego definitely showed that.

"I'm...sure she's dead, sensei. Nobody can survive that height."

"If she is dead, where is Uchiha's summon beast? THe one that tailed her around these past years? No sane ninja would let his summon animal to be missing for full three days!"

He smashed another glass vial, "He's hiding her away! And I can't sense her chakra! This is not good, Karin. At least when she was in the Palace, it was like having her in a glassbox. Now we don't have any chance to find her as long as he's hiding her."

However, to be honest, it was Kabuto's fault to not have realized that he was playing on top of the palm of Uchiha's hand.

He was really just using Karin to vent out his self-frustration, anger, and shame.

"You shouldn't have just gone out of your way to kill Hyuuga like that! You should've discussed it over with me!"

Karin was actually not one with ample patience. Her iron will and shrewd personality merely reined her fiery temper.

She yelled,

"That's so not fair! You saw the letter, and you told me it was a good idea to kill Hyuuga, Sensei! You even helped me by giving her the pass!"

"That was when I didn't know where you got that letter! If you told me where you got that letter, I would've never helped you with your stupid, half-formed plan! Nobody, nobody-can see that summon lizard unless the creature so wills it! That you were able to see it AND capture it shows how gullible and stupid you are! So ready to fall into the Uchiha's trap!" He slammed his fist on his desk, "You should have told me about seeing that fucking lizard! Then I would have known that he was setting a trap!"

Then...he-he...knew everything? What we're doing?"

"I told you to never, never judge Uchiha by his looks. He might look like a hero who does everything by sword, but he is slyer than my previous master Orochimaru and more devious."

* * *

A giant white lizard with lime green eyes and a thirteen year old girl with dark indigo hair were walking beneath towering stone cliffs that gave them the needed invisibility from woodsmen and herb salvaging country wives.

The lizard could just stay invisible as much as it wants.

It was Hyuuga who wanted to be alone.

The sky was turning dark as twilight approached, and the wind was soothing, but there was a noticeable gloom cast in the thirteen year old's strange colored eyes.

The size difference between the lizard and the girl was as vast as a walking toddler and an ant, but it was the lizard who was peering tentatively and sweating bullets on its scaly brow.

 _Ah...Hyuuga?_

But her soft features refused to lighten up and instead hardened in the stormy silence. "..."

 _...Hyuuga~_

Still no answer.

For the three years they've been together, Hyuuga has never uttered a single mean word to the lizard.

However, this time, she was too mad to even look at her three year long reptilian friend.

Unnerved by Hyuuga's "Stone Buddha stance," the giant white lizard blurted out in exasperation,

 _Hyuuga, just say something, would you?! Anything?_

Her eyes were still facing forward. "I've got no-nothing to say."

 _Then, why are you so angry?_

"I'm not."

A thundering groan erupted in the narrow path baraccaded by the rock cliffs and birds soared to the sky.

'Not this again.'

 _You obviously are._

Feeling cornered, she stammered and spoke a bit defensively, "I-I didn't say anything."

That's the point! I explained to you that Uchiha knew all this was going to happen, and he prepared this special place for you. But now you're pissed!

"...And-and...am-am I supposed to-to thank him? My only friend ha-hates me...I-I'm leaving my-my fav-favorite te-teachers…"

Hyuuga's eyes felt wet now that she thought about Zetsu sensei's strange nickname: little poo. She never thought she was going to miss him calling her like that, but she did. As he danced around with his stringy body that reminded her of mozarella cheese.

The lizard was about to say something comforting in its own way but it felt a light human footstep on the crown of its head as somebody perched on it like it was some Persian mat.

'Nobody dares to do that to me...except one person.'

Instead of the lizard's chakra infused, silky voice, a low, husky voice that reverberated softly at the end spoke down to Hyuuga.

"...I thought you hated the place."

"I-I ha-had a har-hard time, but it doesn't mean…!"

'Wait a minute…'

She turned and lifted angry, opalescent eyes and saw a tall, dark, and handsomely groomed man sitting on top of the lizard's head, casually resting his well shaped chin on his fair hand.

"You-you!"

Opening and shutting her mouth repetitively, she stared at him like he was some ghost and then resolutely turned and marched away.

With a short huff, the man followed her as he comfortably rode on his summon lizard's head.

After keeping some silence, he opened his mouth, "If I didn't push you off, you would've been killed. You know that."

She stared at him wide-eyed, and unable to refute his words but still feeling angry and defiant, she turned and walked away.

A part of her whispered to her, 'It's true...I saw Karin about to shoot me with an acupuncture needle, but I was too shocked that I couldn't move...The girls looked ready to push me off the cliff. If Waker sama didn't push me...I would've lost my life. Karin is good at poison...and my bullies are crazy..'

One thought led to another.

'And it makes sense what lizard chan said...about Kabuto. Karin is Kabuto sensei's favorite student, and out of nowhere, he gave me the prized pass to one of the most beautiful and remote wildlands of the Realm.'

But she still had a lingering question, 'But why would he want to kill me?'

So many questions were whirling in her head and making her feel dizzy.

Then suddenly, she couldn't hear the heavy footsteps of lizard chan.

Curious, she looked over her shoulder and saw the tall man gracefully leap down from the head of the lizard and as soon as he was on his own feet, the lizard lied flat on the ground like a tired pet dog.

In a matter of minutes, he gathered some twigs that were growing on the rocky protrusions of the cliffs and made fire. He then rummaged from his back pack, and started grilling something that smelled sweet and salty like soy sauce.

'The smell...is my favorite wanza meat balls.'

She thought he didn't notice her staring like a drooling child over a candy store window, until he told her,

"You can leave if you want."

But his lips drew into a slight smirk, "If you know the way, that is." But that slight smirk soon quickly disappeared and he stared into the dancing flames and the grilling meat over the glowing orange logs that splitted in the heat.

She looked up the cliffs that soared high up into the sky and heard the whistling air and cries of crows and hawks as they swooped up miles and miles away from the ground.

She sighed, 'Before I decide to do anything...I have to eat.'

Before she could really stop herself, she received the meat on stick he extended to her with two hands, respectfully, and took a bite.

But she didn't forget to sit as far away from him as she can, while still being able to absorb the welcoming warmth of the fire.

After making sure she took every bite, he poked around the hot, flaming logs with his sheathed sword, making sure the air was breathing life into the flames.

For the first time, it was him breaking the silence and initiating the conversation.

"Shouldn't you be thanking me for helping you leave?"

Appalled, she cannot keep her voice from going up "I-I did-didn't ask for your help!"

But knowing him for three years as 'messenger sama' told her that he wasn't trying to be mean or sarcastic. In fact, He was always polite and caring, but that didn't mean that he minced his words.

"The Palace was a toxic environment for you. You weren't happy there and the people weren't treating you any better."

She felt the need to make her sound stronger than she actually is, "Bu-but I-I can take ca-care of my-myself!"

His brows furrowed as he looked at her and told her firmly, "You're still a child."

"Well-well," she was really shocked to hear him tell her that she was just a 'child,' how dare he, she's thirteen!

"I'm not weak, messenger sama! I can take care of myself."

She didn't even realize she called him that.

"Nobody," he spoke firmly, "can survive long term estrangement unscathed."

"I...don't understand wha-what you're saying.

He gently stroked the flames, "You are thirteen. You're young, impressionable. It turned out that your only support system, Haruno, was not reciprocating your loyalties. Zetsu, while well intentioned, is ineffectual in helping you to socialize with your peers. It's been three years, Hyuuga. It is time to move on."

Hyuuga stared at him wide-eyed. Was he some human personality calculator?

And what did he just say? Move...on?

"You-you...want me out?"

Did her Second Waker- turned messenger sama just say that she is disqualified from being a candidate for the Waker's Pearl?

He stopped, poking around the glowing logs.

Her lips shivered, "Di-did...you re-really me-mean it that...I'm not a Waker's Pearl material?"

After placing his sheathed Kusanagi down, he faced her,

"The only way to calm your rabid competitors was to denounce you and fake your death. And be a good actor at it."

Again, she couldn't find a way to talk back.

He sighed and proceeded to stick another meat wanza onto a clean twig. "Enough of this. Tell me what upsets you. Why are you angry at me?"

 _And me._

Lizard chan tooted in.

She bowed her head and remained still for some time, but she finally got the words out.

"Did I-I-I really look so..so...stupid to both of you?"

Both the giant lizard and his master's eyes widened.

"Is that why you didn't reveal your identity to me? Because it wa-was fun to...to make a fool out of me?"

 _Hyuuga, you are way crossing the line!_

She hiccuped a little and clammed her mouth shut at lizard chan's words.

'Oh dear...did I offend lizard chan?'

To be fair, lizard chan deserved her anger too, but it still held a piece of her heart as her three year long companion and chakra teacher.

 _Don't lump me with that Uchiha! My only crime was being his summon animal! It's all his fault! He's the dirty liar, not me!_

Uchiha wryly said, "What a role model summon you are."

Seeing the electricity spark between them, she cannot help but think ''Dumping all the blame on the master. I am worried about their relationship-no, I am not worried about them at all!'

She shook her head violently, making both the lizard and the Second Waker stop their argument and stare at her puzzled.

"You-you...and lizard chan...were the closest people to me, but-but both of you…"

She cannot help the feeling of being betrayed. Betrayed by lizard chan, betrayed by Haruno, betrayed by...messenger sama.

'Was my messenger sama...ever real? Was he just some dream or illusion I fashioned and projected onto someone?'

Concerned, lizard chan spoke to her

 _Hey, Hyuuga...Uchiha might be a sociopath, but...he never intended you to have a breach in your friendship with pink hair…_

Hyuuga raised her head and looked at the tall inky haired man. She can hear crickets chirping.

Uchiha agreed, "No, it was not my doing. Rather, it was a doomed friendship from the start."

She felt hot tears well to her eyes and a lump rising to her throat, "Ye..yeah...a doomed...friendship. Because she's the school queen and I am just a loser."

Uchiha held up his hand, "That is not what I said. You're not getting my point, Hyuuga."

He exhaled a deep breath. This was getting him a lot more emotional than he ever wanted to be. Sadly, with Hyuuga, things never exactly went as he planned.

"Let me make it clear for you. Your so-called best friend, she never treated you as her equal. I've never met her personally, but I was able to tell just by hearing your stories."

When a heavy teardrop rolled down her cheek, his analytical, logical gaze softened into a look of gentleness.

His voice was deep and velvety as he said, "Deep down inside...you knew this too."

More teardrops fell from her sparkling light lavender eyes as she looked up at him fully, "Bu-but...she-she was all-all I had…"

"That's why...the Palace is not a healthy place for you...In order to survive, you have to cling on to such shallow relationships. That alone shows...it is better for you to take an extended leave."

Wondering if he was sounding way too soft, he assumed the tone as a teacher and adult, "You're not going back, until I deem it fit."

"But…"

He silenced her objection by shoving the deliciously cooked wanza in front of her mouth, and she took the meat and nibbled on it.

While she was feeling her mood get better with the treat, he began to speak.

"When I found out Kabuto's plan...this doesn't happen often, but my hands were tied."

"...Messenger sama...are you...admitting your weakness?"

He pretended to not have heard her surprised comment, "If I openly defended you, you would've been a worst social outcast. The only way to keep you safe was pretending to disqualify you, Hyuuga."

Her face instantly beamed. 'So I am still technically a candidate! It's just that…' but she soon looked like a kicked puppy, 'I'm not welcomed anymore in the Palace…'

"I-I understand that...but...why did you hide from me that you were the Second Waker?"

(Poke)

"Ah!"

After poking her on her forehead, he stared at her with an ironic smile on his face,

"You weren't my biggest fan, remember?"

She blushed. All the memories of calling him "cold, selfish, narcissistic, heartless" without her knowing that it was him all along came to her.

She rubbed her forehead, "All-all this time...I-I tho-thought of you and worr-worried for you...So all my concerns for you... how foolish I must've seemed...Me...worrying about the great Second Waker sama..."

Her tone wasn't accusatory. Instead, she looked sad and dejected as if she was accepting her low self-image as the truth.

She wanted to believe that one day, if she tried hard to be funny and social, showed improvements in her studies and martial skills...she would be able to fit in, and Haruno would see her as an equal.

'But deep down...I knew...Haruno never thought me as a friend…So why would the Second Waker... treat me any differently?'

Moon spirit, Soul Reaper, King of the Underworld, the Bringer of lightning, fire, and rain, and other possible destructive natural elements. A God.

These were just the few of the names of the Second Waker. He was everything that was dark, frightful, and powerful that can be evoked by the limited confines of human imagination.

Why would he care for her? And how dare she think she can care for him? She was insignificant. Puny. A nobody.

She was still gazing at the fire as she asked him, "Were you with me...because you pitied me?"'

But then she felt the presence of someone large and masculine, breaching the distance between themselves. She would've been startled if it wasn't for the warmth radiated by the body and the pleasant smell of wind and midnight soaken shrubs.

She looked up to see deep mesmerizing eyes with depths of a night sky.

"Every moment I've been with you, Hyuuga...I meant everything."

When she saw the Second Waker's face hovering near hers, she thought, 'Oh...dear…'

She wanted to think that she was different from people who judge others by looks, but seeing his face so close to hers made her question why she was even mad at him in the first place.

It was not fair to be this handsome.

If she was not dead-set in love with Angel-sama, she would've fallen hopelessly into the dark, alluring depths of his eyes, and the alabaster luster of his complexion and hands.

Seeing a wash of red over the teenage girl's face, he shifted a bit away and coughed nervously. He didn't intend his spontaneous outburst to sound like that.

After a bit hesitation, he added begrudgingly, "Except for the Second Waker part."

"I did...hide my real identity from you...But there was never a moment I lied to you about my..." his brow furrowed, "feelings." He hated that mushy word.

Unknowingly to Hyuuga, the lizard sent a chakra infused voice signal to its master,

 _Wow that sounded a lot like a love confession. You know that's illeg-_

"Shut up."

"Ye-yes?!"

"No, not you."

He cleared his throat and decided to change the subject.

"So, what are your plans? Do you still want to be the Waker's Pearl?"

For once, Hyuuga felt completely stunted in front of Uchiha.

She thought, 'What is my goal?...I just thought vaguely that I wanted to survive day to day...Be less bullied. Get more recognition. Talk to...angel sama. I never dared to imagine being the Waker's Pearl. I knew that I could never even make it to the finals. But now…'

A series of laughing, jeering faces of Takahashi, Murakami, Seto, Karin danced in mockery.

Uchiha looked at her face, slowly contorting into a look of pain and anger.

And he has seen that face before. Not on Hyuuga. She used to be far too naive and innocent. But he recognized that face on nobody other than himself.

"Do you want revenge?"

Startled, she flinched and stared at him.

"I-I can't...I-"

He said casually as he sipped on some water from his bottle, "It's natural to want revenge."

"I-I...can't hurt them."

"Even if you have the power to hurt them? The way they hurt you?"

Revenge...What would have appalled Hyuuga before now felt so enticing. So sweet. Like chilled plums he would offer her in the cool summer night in the Palace.

And he was so persuasive as usual, but this time, he was offering a far more dangerous fruit, destructively sweet and tangy.

"They'll forget what they've done to you and go on with their lives. Could you, Hyuuga? Could you sleep at peace, without remembering day before yesterday?"

"I...I don't know, Waker sama...I-I…" she clutched on her pants, "I hate them. And I wish them the worst...I wish they never get away with what they have done."

She grit her teeth in anger and hurt, and his eyes softened towards her indulgingly.

"Bu-but...i don't want to be like them."

"You don't have to stoop to their level...to exact your just payment, Hyuuga."

She swallowed, "Just payment…" Payment for torturing her for three years. For manipulating her. For punishing her for what she can't help because it is her nature to be an introvert.

He then withdrew his charming gaze and shrugged, "But...it's not easy. I suggest that you just forget whatever transpired and move on."

With the guise of indifference, he coaxed the burning fire as if her heart was a little furnace.

She turned to him, "What is the best way to avenge yourself, Waker sama?"

She clutched on her chest, "I-I'm...so hurt...I'm...so angry...at Kabuto sensei. At Karin...At my bullies...At…"

She couldn't finish her words.

So Uchiha finished for her, "Haruno. You're angry at Haruno."

"...Yes."

"For hurting you...for never giving you a chance to redeem yourself in her eyes."

"All, all I wanted was...a chance to..a chance to show that I wasn't a failure."

"And you still could."

She looked into his eyes and understood. His message was clear as the night sky above.

He was telling her...to face her enemies not as the weak, snivelling, pathetic loser that they believe her to be, but as the Waker's Pearl.

'The Waker's Pearl? Me?'

Never in her life, did Hyuuga seriously consider being the Waker's Pearl.

And who is the Waker's Pearl? As the celestial maiden of the Realm, the Waker's Pearl has the power as the enchantress and executes the role of advisor and guardian to the First and Second Wakers.

Being the Waker's Pearl means having a mere mortal metamorphize into a divine warrior, a war-goddess equivalent to Valkyries or Reapers of souls.

When she is not executing duties and bringing devastation upon her lords' enemies, she is playing the role of nymph, celestial fairy, beautiful and graceful, as she loyally escorts her Waker.

And who is she? A social outcast who can't even find a friend. A stuttering, shy, timid, odd girl. Finding her name in the ranks was faster if one counts from the bottom in the list.

But...she can't deny that being the Waker's Pearl is the surest way to hurt those who've wronged her.

Seeing her, Uchiha could already tell that his poison was working on her.

What he was offering was a new dream, a dark one tainted by revenge, and she was gulping it down as if she was dying of thirst.

He knew the effect of revenge, because he has gone through it himself. Drinking from the cup of revenge, her skin will turn cold, and her eyes frigid but lovely, like a true goddess...

Now she might look like just any other girl, with a glaring inability to use her dojutsu to the full capacity.

But, if she takes his cup he offers, she will be truly unstoppable.

Having gone through a myriad of people and creatures, Uchiha knew as a fact that his judgment was going to be fulfilled.

Previously, it was her timidity and low self-esteem that was holding her back,but now it was going to be revenge that propels her toward her glorious ascension.

He smiled. Hyuuga was going to be his Waker's Pearl. His goddess, his angel.

Everything was going as he planned.

Seeing the fire go off and a whizz of pale smoke rising from the wood, he turned to her and said abruptly, "And I'm not the only one to hide my identity."

"The-there's someone else?"

"Your 'angel sama'...is actually the First Waker."

"!"

* * *

Preview:

Ko: Nice to meet you, Hyuuga san. It's great to meet a fellow Hyuuga in the Realm. I've heard a lot about you from Uchiha sama. I personally owe a huge debt to him, so I offered to be your caregiver and dojutsu master. You'll live with me and my wife, and we hope you'll enjoy living with us.


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto

Hello~I'm back! I was so pumped about writing this next chapter I couldn't stop myself!

I wanted to write this chapter in a fairy tale style, like Sleeping Beauty where a married couple pines for a child

and a mysterious sorcerer or witch appears and grants them their wish but always on one special condition. Let me know what worked and what didn't!

Some Author's Notes: Oh no, I'm sorry if I failed to make it clear.

There are two Wakers, thus two Waker's Pearls who respectively serve each Waker. There is NOT just one Waker's Pearl. Sorry for the confusion TT TT

Oh, and I have to call Karin-"Karin," instead of "Uzumaki" because it'll be too damn confusing with Naruto being an Uzumaki as well. So please understand me flexing the rules haha;;

 **UNBETA and OOC**

* * *

Summary: Uchiha (Past!Sasuke) is hoping to have Hyuuga (Past!Hinata) be a Waker's Pearl, _his_ Waker's Pearl.

He is wary of Hyuuga's crush on past!Naruto so he is using his attractiveness to her enemies as a motivation for her to use him for revenge.

He insidiously watered the seed of begrudgement Hyuuga held against those including Haruno to make her serious about being the Waker's Pearl.

Ko, the only Hyuuga in the Realm and his retired body guard, agree to training her on the arts of the bakugan and the Gentle fist series.

To keep her safe from Kabuto and Karin's spying eyes, Uchiha fakes her death and disqualification, and Hyuuga begins to train in hiding.

The only ones who know of Hyuuga's survival are Uchiha, Ko and his wife, Kabuto, and Karin who decide to keep it secret and wait for their chance to strike.

* * *

"Ko, you've been practicing your welcome speech for an hour and a half. And it's almost midnight."

A tall, long dark haired man with full moon eyes made a good natured smile to his wife who returned that smile. They were an attractive looking couple in their late thirties, respectively 39 and 37, living in a rustic, charming cabin in the deep woods.

However, the knee-deep snow that concealed dangerous sheets of slippery ice and the gust of wind that snapped the only direction post "Welcome-" signaled that the married couple's environment was not that hospitable to most people.

A short, stout woman with wavy brown hair, Sara sighed with heavy disappointment and stored the hot pot soup she made for their young, charming guest back in the refrigerator.

His back rigid and opalescent white eyes sparkling, Ko recited his lines once again, placing his hand over his heart.

"Nice to meet you, Hyuuga san. It's great to meet a fellow Hyuuga in the Realm. I've heard a lot about you from Uchiha sama. I personally owe a huge debt to him, so I offered to be your caregiver and dojutsu master. You'll live with me and my wife, and we hope you'll enjoy living with us."

Impatient and feeling stressed over the Uchiha's delay, Sara sat on the dinner table next to Ko.

"Ko, it's late and it's snowing like crazy."

Then a creeping sense of worry and dead forced her to ask him, "You don't suppose...the Second Waker has changed his mind, do you?"

To his wife who was biting on her nails, Ko shook his head, "If Second Waker sama hasn't changed, he'll definitely be here soon."

Sara murmured "I hope so" and stood up to peer out a small window next to the door. It was scary dark and the wind was howling and scattering snowflakes everywhere, hitting the window panes. She prayed that they would come safe, especially the child.

"Nice to meet you, Hyuuga san-"

"Ko, stop it for a second."

"Sara, I have to practice-"

"Shhh! Come over here!"

Once Ko got to the window, he activated his byakugan.

Their Victorian style ceiling clock struck twelve and the gong echoed in the living room. The wind outside tuned a harsh, shrill whistle.

With shivering hands, the mistress of the cottage turned the knob and pushed open the heavy wooden door.

A blizzard of snow threatened to enter with the tall man, wearing a thick hooded cape. Affected by the harsh climate and lack of sustenance, his pale, chapped lips had a purplish hue and ebony brow and lashes were downed with white snowflakes. But his glowing red eyes with lazily spinning tomoes never looked so alive, and their eerie vitality added a haunting aura to his ghastly appearance.

Unable to recognize his haggard state at first, Ko gasped, "Second Waker sama…"

Without even taking off his hood or saying a word, he withdrew his mantle cloak over his shoulder, and both husband and wife approached to see what has been carefully enfolded in his arms during his bleak, awful travel in the snowy woods.

Hiding beneath the cloak was a dark haired girl, peacefully asleep as if his arms were the safest place to be. Judging by the ruddiness of her cheeks and lips, the man took extreme care in making sure she was warm even at his own expense.

Even as he laid her down on the sofa next to the fireplace, she wouldn't wake up. The light of the fire played on her features, casting shifting shadows underneath her dark eyelashes. Ko wondered if she was under some trance, because it is impossible to turn a deaf ear to the wind's craning howls.

The said man looked down at her for a while, and then walked over to the door and adjusted his mantle and hood.

Even though Sara felt like she should invite him to stay for the night, there was something about the Uchiha that silenced those around him. He was not necessarily being hostile towards Ko or her, but he had this air that hardly made him approachable.

And he certainly didn't seem the type to enjoy taking his time in accomplishing his task. He looked at Ko who understood his message and tactfully moved to the side of the door to give him some privacy. Ko nodded slowly after a few words the hooded man told him.

After a slight nod towards the couple, he twisted the knob of the door and went back into the gusty night storm.

The sound of the heavy door shutting reverberated through the room, and for the moment the fire place went out, only to be revived again at the absence of the visitor's gloomy presence.

She didn't realize how thick the tension was in the room, until she felt relaxed enough to tell her husband of her first impression of the infamous Second Waker.

"He's...very different from what I expected."

When her husband raised an eyebrow at her, she elaborated-

"The last thing you would feel towards the co-ruler of this world is 'pity.' But I honestly felt kind of bad for him when he took that one last look at the girl before leaving like that."

'He looked like he was going to cry,' she thought as she remembered how the man's haughty and always angry looking expression changed as he spared one last look at the sleeping girl. He gritted his teeth and his thickly lashed dark eyes showed such turmoil and distress that she nor or husband would associate with the stoic ice king. It was as if he was forced to leave a limb, leg or an arm, behind.

Trying to dispel the memory of the man's face, she went up upstairs and brought a checkered blanket to offer more warmth to the girl. When she went over to the sofa and bent over to take a closer look at the girl, her fingers automatically touched the midnight blue hair that fringed her forehead.

At her touch, Hyuuga's milky white eyes with lavender shadows fluttered open, and both Ko and Sara can see the evidence of the child's special heritage and ethereal beauty.

Her eyelashes naturally curled upward and her pearl eyes blinked owlishly as she momentarily faced the two adults who were staring at her.

Blood rushed to her smooth, pale cheeks, culminating into a soft bloom of health and shyness, as she wondered if she was just imagining things-a brunette lady and a man with white eyes like hers.

"Ah.."

But the girl soon succumbed to deep, groggy sleep and her eyes slid shut as the lights went out.

When Hyuuga snuggled underneath the gentle source of warmth, the blanket, Sara gasped and then quickly turned her face away to hold in her tears.

"Oh, Ko," she whispered, "She has your eyes." Tears were starting to prickle at the edge of her eyes.

Despite her emotional state and need for rest, she refused to leave Hyuuga's side and sat on her rocking chair to gaze at the girl who made a slight smile as she slept.

Sara finally opened her mouth, "She's so perfect. It's like having Hana back..."

He started. He then whimsically gazed at his wife and the girl.

Sara always wanted children, but sadly things haven't worked out in accordance to her wish. What nearly killed her was her last miscarriage with a baby girl. They even nicknamed the unborn, "Hana" for "flower," hoping that she would come to them like the warm breath of spring. But that never happened.

Ever since, they lost their chance or felt too tired for hope, she and Ko decided to just dedicate their lives for each other.

Seeing a young, innocent girl sleeping on their living room sofa must have sparked some deeply buried longing in her heart.

Ko noticed his wife's deep attachment to the sleeping girl, and he knew his wife would be a great caregiver and mother figure if she was given the chance.

'A chance...' he thought. "Maybe this is our last chance to have a family we always wanted."

But soon he felt an unexpected chill down his spine, akin to fear, as he envisioned a pair of flashing red eyes and an ominous voice

 _The midnight of her sixteenth birthday, I'll come back to retrieve the child._

Ko wondered, 'Would it be too cruel to remind Sara that we're only living with Hyuuga for three years?'

But he shook his head, 'Maybe, it would be wiser to see how things progress between Sara and Hyuuga. Hopefully, the Hyuuga will show some negative trait

that will make her dislikable to Sara, like being spoilt or too stuck up."

* * *

"There, there, we aren't going to hurt you..."

Never leaving her gaze from Sara's outstretched hand, Hyuuga scurried to the corner of the living room and wrapped herself with the checkered blanket.

A light lavender eye peered from the blanket and stared at every corner of this strange place she found herself in.

Sara bent on her knees to get to look at her in the eye level, while Ko was standing and shaking his head in dismay.

As soon as the girl woke up on the sofa, she freaked out and darted away every time Sara and Ko tried to get close to her.

Ko offered, "Hyuuga sama, didn't the Second Waker sama tell you about us?"

When she remained silent, neither nodding or shaking her head, Sara sighed, "That untrustworthy..."

Ko began to try speaking soothingly to the girl, "Hyuuga sama, the Second Waker has asked us to take care of you before you go back to the Palace. Because I'm the only one who knows how to wield the byakugan in battle, he decided that I would be a good fit for you."

She was still quiet but her wide eyes hinted that she was listening, so he continued, "Of course, because we live in the woods, you might find it uncomfortable living here. If that's the case, we can tell the Second Waker and he can...'

"I-it-it's no-not that!" both Ko and Sara were surprised to hear the girl's light, airy voice that is becoming of her fragile looks.

She hid her mouth behind her fingers, "I-I'm sorry for being rude. I do know bo-both of you."

Both Ko and Sara were temporarily relieved that the Second Waker did have enough common sense to explain to her what will happen.

"It's just...I wasn't ex-expecting to be a-alone with you."

Both the adults' faces showed surprised O's at her word. It seemed that this little girl who looked incapable of hurting a fly was pretty close to the famed ice king.

Gathering courage, she lifted her doe-like eyes toward them, "Ca-can I ask where he is?"

Sara looked at her husband for help, "Oh sweetie..."

Despite Ko's best effort to be as tactful as he can be, Hyuuga still seemed shocked by the fact that Waker sama just left without bothering to say good-bye.

She sat on the corner, burying her face in the blankets that she huddled like a plush animal.

'I can't believe...he just left,' she thought. 'with lizard chan too.'

An hour seemed to pass, and she was starting to feel hungry and even more depressed and sulky. She was dirty too, but at this point she was passed caring.

 _Whiinnng-_

She flinched at the sound of the mixer running in the kitchen and thought, 'I wonder what is going on.' She never saw a real mixer before, but she remembered seeing them in cookbooks she borrowed from the palace library.

Then a wafting, golden smell of burning sugar made her raise her eyes in the direction of the kitchen.

Her ears then perked at the tentative call of Sara, "Umm, Hyuuga-?"

Sara personally hated calling the child by her last name. It was beyond her why the Second Waker allowed people and even himself to call her by the family name that refers to her painful past of being abandoned for the sake of the fallen clan.

But rules are rules, and their '3 year contract' obligated her to always call the candidate by her last name.

"Hyuuga, I made this cake for you," Sara cooed gently, "It's a cake that I made with my homemade marzipan creme."

Seeing her pearl white eyes glitter with excitement, Sara made an inward fist pump of triumph.

After reading from the Second Waker's letters, she learned that the Hyuuga girl liked sweets and Sara was one good cook. She won the local village's cooking contest for the past years and even was invited to be on the judge panel for the province's dessert competition.

She extended the plate temptingly, "Hyuuga, aren't you going to have it?"

And indeed, she was starting to feel her mouth salivate at the sight of the delectably whipped creme on top of the smooth, fluffy cake.

The cake was so beautiful it was enough to crumble her previous resentment towards Waker sama and her situation.

Sara did a mock sigh and touched her own cheek in dismay, "Honey, if nobody is going to take it, I guess I have to just throw it away."

Ko, who knew what his wife was up to, made a mock impression of dismay as well, "My New Year's Resolution is no processed sugar, so I guess we're left with no choice."

'No-!'

Hyuuga rose from her seat and let the blanket fall to the floor, "I-I-I'll have it!"

As Sara showed her way to the bathroom so she could take a bath before eating, Ko muttered to himself, "It seems that it's going to be us who's spoiling the Hyuuga."

* * *

You're using your strength in the wrong way, Hyuuga sama."

In the middle of teaching her the Taijutsu techniques that he alone knows, Ko decided to take a break with her by the natural stream.

"You shouldn't try to emulate the use of pure physical strength like your peers or force your chakra usage to another mold."

She meekly nodded and blushed. 'Ko sensei is so sharp. He figured out my bad habits that Waker sama used to point out."

'And it is me trying to be a copy-cat,' she winced at the memory of Haruno and Karin and how she gawked at their superb control of chakra. They always acted as if managing that flow was as effortless as breathing in air.

No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get to Haruno's level of chakra control. And her possession of the byakugan left no room for excuse for her inferior performance and provided more room for Seto and Takahashi gang's ridicule.

 _Honestly, if I had the byakugan...I would do much MUCH better than that._

That was the silent message she got from their actions.

"Are you okay, sweetie?"

Sara's gentle voice pulled her out of her dark train of thoughts and desire to see her foes' pain, and she smiled brightly, "Ye..yes."

'It will hurt Sara if I tell her that I'm starting to remember my past. She already listened to my boring stories of being bullied. I don't want her to worry about me any more.'

Ko sensei opened his ceramic water bottle and filled it to the brim and offered it to her first.

"Lizard chan, was it? Your teacher did an amazing job teaching you the proper defensive stance and the basic fighting postures. "

Receiving the bottle with two hands, she bowed her head meekly and took two large gulps.

"But who taught you how to use your byakugan to see chakra pathway systems and the tenketsu(pressure points)?"

"Li-lizard chan did that a bit, sensei, but it was messenge-no, I mean, Se-second Waker sama."

He almost coughed out his water in the most unsightly way, "Excuse me, Hyuuga sama, but did Uchiha sama ever show you his..."

After some thought, he changed his mind and shook his head, "Never mind, Hyuuga sama."

His hesitance to ask whatever question actually made her want to alleviate whatever concern was in her new teacher's head.

"He...never really showed anything, sensei. It's just...Waker sama has this uncanny ability to see through a stranger's chakra pathway system and memorize all the 361 tenketsu points just with two minutes of sparring."

He almost lost his composure then and there. "He...told you that?"

She took another sip. She felt parched from the hours of training. "Umm, not really, no. But...I observed him really hard for the three years I've known him, and I saw a pat-pattern to his style of fighting."

"I see..."

'So it seems both the Waker and the girl have been watching each other. I can tell why the Waker sees so much potential in her.'

Ko made a bright smile and stood to his full height, "Hyuuga sama, it seems we have a lot to cover."

"I can tell that you've worked very hard to get as much as you can from your previous trainings, and I'm proud of you for that."

Not used to compliments, her ears perked up,

"Now the next step is to not just see the tenketsu, it is to attack them."

"How-how can I do that?"

"What you ultimately lack is a training on how to block the tenketsu, the knot in your opponent's chakra pathway."

Looking as decisive as ever, he faced the wide-eyed girl, "By the end of our three years, I'll teach you everything I know about our clan's techniques, Hyuuga sama."

* * *

 _3 years later, the day of Hyuuga's sixteenth birthday_

Small hands delicately wrapped a plastic seal over a steel bowel full of chocolate chip cookie dough and patted the rim of the bowl.

Milk white eyes with lavender shadows blinked and stared intently at the cookie dough.

Without even a stutter, the owner of the eyes exclaimed, "It already smells wonderful!"

"It is after all OUR award winning recipe," she proudly shrugged and then ruffled the girl's midnight blue hair that has grown down to her back,"And for that, we're going to a spa trip!"

But Hyuuga was far more interested in the treat sitting before her than some distant onsen trip.

"Can I lick the dough?"

Shaking her head, Sara refused to spoil her little princess this time, "You got sick after doing that, remember?"

"Hyuuga sama-"

At the familiar low voice, she turned to see a pleasantly smiling man with eyes very much like hers.

"Ko san!"

Ko opened his arms wide so the petite young woman can dive into his chest and give him a big bear hug.

Wiping her hands off a microfiber towel, Sara asked, "Aren't you guys tired of greeting each other as if it's been forever?"

"Oh," he went, "how long was I out again?"

"It's been six hours," she retorted, "how was downtown?" Her eyes twinkled a bit menacingly when she asked for the more important part, "Honey, you brought our award certificate for winning the dessert contest, right? The spa trip?"

But seeing the smile on Ko's face falter made her sigh, "You didn't."

He rubbed his face with his right hand, "I must've totally forgot. My memory's deteriorating as I get old."

"Shut up, I'm two years older than you," she snapped, "Next time, I'm not trusting you to get our mail from downtown"

"Bu-but, you always do, Sara san," the girl smiled brightly, a light dusty pink on her cheeks as she teased her caregiver gently, "And you love living here too much to move closer to the villages."

"Hyuuga," Sara playfully pinched her round cheek, earning an indignant squeak, "do play 'milkmaid' for me and get a gallon of milk and the award certificate your teacher forgot to bring on his way home."

"Aww," she was about to meekly protest as she is still a terrible introvert at heart and the downtown tends to be a bit rowdy and crowded during this season, but Sara gently placed a clean finger on her light pink, pouty lips.

"We need butter for the cake."

* * *

"Wh-when I come back!" she called out as the wind threatened to swallow her voice down, "don-don't forget our promise!"

She made a satisfactory humph when she saw Sara and Ko nod and smile behind the window panes and turned to make her trip.

During her trip, she huddled closer to herself as she buried her face in Sara's hand-knitted, purple scarf and trudged through the snow.

'Ko sensei promised me to tell me his secret. About why he came to the Realm and how he met Waker sama, if I master the Gentle Fist. I am so close to achieving most of the Gentle step sequences!"

The three years she has spent with Ko and Sara passed like wind-scattered snowflakes in her mind. She never knew it was possible to feel this happy and warm.

'If father and mother were alive,' she thought whimsically, 'this might have been my life.'

Cooking in the kitchen with mom and spending time with the training ground with her father. These might have been hers if they were alive.

But she was not the one to complain. Her nervous tic of stuttering and fidgeting showed substantial improvement as well as her Taijutsu and byakugan wielding skills.

But most of all, their love and attentiveness gave her the confidence she needed.

As she finally arrived at the town, she hurriedly wrapped her face around with the purple scarf.

She rarely went to town by herself, as she was still very introverted and didn't want to be alone without Sara or Ko when people openly stare at her strange, otherworldly eyes and hair.

Then suddenly a very dark chakra outstretched its claws towards her, and she snapped her view towards the general direction it was coming from.

But when she discreetly activated her byakugan, the veins settling around her large white eyes, she saw nothing in particular-just civilians minding their business in a hustling bustling village.

'Strange...' she wondered. 'Why am I feeling so...jumpy?'

Shaking her head, she tired to snap out of her fear and unease, 'It's nothing, I'm sure.'

As she visited both the postal office and the bakery to get the mail and milk, she kept getting this uncomfortable feeling of being watched.

It has driven her to the point where she would tuck tail and run and shudder to notice that the dark thing that flitted across her range of vision, has never existed in the first place.

'I...' she felt her hands shivering as she gripped on her carton of milk, 'I need to go home, fast.'

She felt better as she walked deep in the woods, away from the suffocating gazes of the villagers. Of course they meant no harm, but sometimes she would detect the blatant gazes of some men that made her squirm in loathing. Some even had the audacity to catcall at her and laugh whenever she shrunk to herself and left in a hurry.

She chastised herself, "Ne-next time , if I ever go to the village by myself again, I will seal their tenketsu to their mouths!"

Just saying that aloud made her feel a hundred times better.

* * *

"So then I said," the whiskered villager chuckled, "do you need help carrying those, miss? That...burdensome rack?"

His two companions laughed, tears threatening to come out.

"You should have heared what I said," anothered cleared his throat and cupped his mouth with both hands, "Mooooooo mooooooo!"

But as soon as their laughter receded, they saw a huge shadow engulfing them like a thunderstorm cloud.

"What the—"

And a series of bloody shriek filled the air before abating into a disturbing calm.

The village suddenly felt very dead like a ghost town.

* * *

"Kyahh!"

Hyuuga stopped in the middle of feeding a wild rabbit a piece of basil she got from the market and stared at the general direction of a woman's blood curdling scream.

As she activated her bakugan, thin veins snapped across the corners of her eyes. She saw one of the most classic scenes in third rate fantasy novels, a hooded damsel being surrounded by three muscular village hooligans.

The rabbit squeaked as it saw her move like a jet, hastily picking up her eco-bag that had her carton of milk and a small parcel of groceries.

One drooling bald man approached the hooded damsel while his friend tried to grab her from the left, "Haha, come here, you cutie, we don't bite-"

But their lascivious smiles faltered a bit at the rather low and unnatural intonation of the damsel in distress.

"Kyah...Someone, please save my virtue~"

"The fuck? Who says tha-"

 _Tookwak!_

But Hyuuga slammed her knee against the temple of his forehead sent him reeling off in a speed of light.

Before his comrade can draw his sword, she lightly tapped on his right shoulder cap and immobilized his arm before landing a swift consecutive double strike on his rib cage that caused him to drop like a paper doll.

Out of curiosity, she slid out the sword that her victim was about to pull out. It was long and had a nice polished edge to it.

But the damsel's cry snapped her out of her appreciation of the weapon, "Wa-watch out!"

At the unexpected entrance of the hero, the last man loaded the barrel chambers of both of his pistols with the snap of his wrists and aimed them at the girl with flying midnight black hair.

It didn't matter to him that the hooded girl was standing right behind the woman with long sleek black hair, and he was about to kill both without a speck of remorse.

In his mind, the woman loomed larger than any bear over his unconscious companions.

 _Tang-! Tang-! Tang-!_

The gilded bullets made rings of ripple effect across the air as they zeroed in on her back.

Her long dark hair fluttered like black silk curtains as the bullets threatened to use her lithe back as their bull's eye.

Using her bakugan's 360 degree angle view, she swept her sword gripped hand and sliced the bullets in a stroke as if they were cherry tomatoes.

When the man gasped and drew back his guns, he saw the simultaneously dazed and pointedly lethal look on Hyuuga's round, delicate face. She looked as if she was drinking in the heat of battle as if it was some calming incense. It showed that she was no ordinary woman.

"Ah...Ahhh!"

When the last turned and started to run, she quickly rummaged her eco bag that she had slung over her left shoulder and opened her milk carton.

Using a few hand Justus, she drew out four crystalline water needles from the carton and threw them like kunais, hitting him at the exact pressure points.

When the man went pff- and fell on the snow, she screwed the lid to her milk carton and ran toward the damsel who sank to the ground in relief.

" _Da-daijobu-desuka?!"_

She knelt before the hooded woman and examined her face. She looked about her age and was very pretty. She had bright azure eyes and honey tan complexion that Hyuuga has always envied since back in her Palace days. Golden blond locks that managed to escape from the confines of her hood tumbled across her shoulders.

The only downside to her beauty seemed to be the strange whisker shaped scars on both sides of her cheek, but the blemish gave her this feline, vixen-like charm that Hyuuga knew she could never get.

No wonder the hooligans tried to bother her.

She smiled warmly and stretched out her hand, "I'm glad to know you're okay."

"Th-thank you so much for saving me! I-"

But when she saw her face, the girl's blue eyes widened and her face completely stilled.

"Wait, you..."

As she pointed her finger toward her face, Hyuuga felt this unknown sense of dread gripping her heart, 'What is this feeling...does this girl...know me?'

"You...Hyuuga?"

As her name escaped from the stranger's lips, she felt as if someone lanced her heart with a long icicle.

"It's you, right? Hyuuga!"

For the first time in her life, Hyuuga regretted lending a helping hand to a stranger.

When the girl she didn't recognize held both of her hands, she noticeably recoiled and her face turned ashen white.

"Wow, it's been like forever! Where have you been all these years?"

The overtly friendly smile on the girl's face confused her deeply, "I'm..sorry, bu-but" damn that stutter, "do..I know you?"

"You were one of the candidates, right?"

As she felt her fingers grow cold and clammy, she smoothly brushed off the girl's fingers from her own.

The blond, tan girl made a good natured grin, oblivious to her savior's gradually stiffening face.

"I like to think that we were good friends!"

A dark tinge of irony was creeping into her voice, "Good...friends?"

"Yeah! We remember when we first met? You were getting beaten up by, God, what was their name-oh! Takahashi and Seto and then-"

But before the girl can complete her words, Hyuuga lunged forward and tackled her swiftly to the ground.

The stranger's wide blue eyes blinked at the aftermath of the shock of having the back of her head shoved into the ice cold snow.

"What the-!"

But she clammed her mouth right away as she felt a dangerous poke of metal on her neck. Hyuuga was poking her throat with the tip of an ice needle she made with her water control jutsu.

She even kept her lower body under restraint with her right knee and manacle-gripped both of her wrists to the ground.

Hyuuga whispered, her voice low and threatening, "Don't move."

When the mystery girl swallowed and looked up, she saw Hyuuga's round and soft face framed by long, silky dark tresses that gently fell to the snow and even parts of her own face. Her eyes reminded her of the entire Milky Way she would see when she goes star gazing on the roof tops of the Palace.

Desiring to avoid getting lost in Milky Way eyes and night sky hair, she averted her gaze but she ended up focusing on her plump, light pink lips that she innocently moistened with her own tongue.

And then she decided it was best to just lower her gaze, but her treacherous eyes remained fixated on the generous curves of her assaulter's body.

She accidentally voiced out her inner thoughts in her _real_ voice, "Damn..."

Obviously having no way to know that this suspicious girl was checking her out, Hyuuga was battling all kinds of thoughts in her head.

'She must be one of the candidates? Was she looking for me? Then why did she act so friendly? Is this a new psychological trick they made up just to torture me?"

After a moment of deliberation, she finally asked, "Did Kabuto send you?"

Her captive innocently blinked her blue eyes and drawled her answer, "Nooo...Why do you say that? I hate that guy!"

Not buying her words, Hyuuga narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

 _I don't want to touch whatever she touches._

That was what Karin's friend said when she passed out her laboratory results in her glass canister. Although Kabuto publically scolded her, he looked rather pleased for the the opportunity to bring negative attention to Hyuuga. His malicious smile as he glanced at her was anything to go by.

At the rush of the unpleasant, painful memories, she bit her shivering lip and her shoulders showed a light tremor.

Forgetting her dangerous predicament, the girl reached out her hand in alarm, "Hey, are you oka-"

 _Pooskh!_

Thankfully, Hyuuga's ice needle didn't land straight in the middle of the beach babe's face but at the right, barely missing the shell of her ear.

The impact of the ice needle puncturing the hole onto the snow scattered the surrounding ice particles, revealing dry, parched grass like a yellowish green halo around the girl's head.

The girl froze at the exact state she was in, arm outstretched the way it did a few mili-seconds ago.

She felt the delicate skin of her right ear prickling a bit, 'Did she just...cut my ear?!"

Keeping her cold, stormy pearl eyes fixed on her, Hyuuga separated herself from her shocked captive and came to her full height.

"I don't know who you are, and I don't care."

Eyes that used to show tender care and concern were now frigid as ice and full of scorn.

"But if you just stood back and watched while Takahashi and Seto beat me up,"

She spared her one last glance. Her knuckles turned white as they gripped the strap of her bag over her shoulder.

"you're not a friend."

She then turned her back.

"I wish to never see you again."

"Hyuuga, wait!"

But unerring to the stranger's cries, Hyuuga ran off and her long dark indigo hair swayed behind her. Unbeknowst to her, the girl was staring at her disappearing form as if entranced.

When Hyuuga disappeared, the girl sighed.

Then, _Poof-_

A smoke rose, and where the tan beach bunny used to be was the one and only First Waker-the Uzumaki. What remained were his soft, fuzzy blond hair, bright blue eyes, and naturally tan complexion and the whiskers Hyuuga has mistaken as scars and blemishes.

He stretched out his long, gangly legs and rubbed the back of his short blond haircut as he stared into the general direction she ran off to.

"Gosh, what was that for?"

He flinched, "Ow" when he felt his hand accidentally scrap against the cut she left on his ear and stared at the blood on his fingers.

Used to small cuts in daily trainings, he nonchalantly wiped the blood on his pants.

He couldn't stop replaying the moment she lunged at him and threw him off guard by pressing him on the ground and silencing his mouth with her chakra laced needle.

Now what was the great First Waker, the co-ruler of the Realm going to say to the Waker's Pearl candidate who dared to threaten his life, albeit unknowingly?

He covered his face with his long, tan fingers and his blond hair cast a dark shadow on his features.

"Wow, that was..."

His judgment on the totally unacceptable behavior of the candidate who shirked her duties to protect the sovereign of Light was,

"That was..." he concluded as he rubbed on the saturation of pink on his sunkissed face, "fucking hot."

* * *

Patting the air bubbles out of her cake batter, Sara asked Ko.

"Do you think the Uchiha will really come for her?"

He looked up. He was actually building the fire in their old-style oven and got distracted by her question.

When he contemplated his answer, she shook her head, "I've never really liked him, but I especially don't like the rumors that are going on.

Hyuuga's like family to us now. We can't leave her under the care of such cold, devilish man."

"Uchiha sama never does anything beyond the point of necessary." As he prodded at the fireplace that was getting resistant to his efforts, he offered an explanation for his past master's increasingly ruthless measures to control the Realm, "It seems that the insurrection forces joined with the Palace defectors had him stirred up."

"Even so..."

"Sara, we signed a contract. We agreed to take care of her for three years."

She swerved and looked at her husband with disbelief, "After all these three years, you're willing to give her back like she-she's some book you borrowed?"

It seemed Hyuuga's nervous stuttering rubbed a bit on her.

"Wait...this energy..."

As they felt the unfamiliar dark energy coming towards their peaceful abode, their eyes sharpened with every intention to fight-Ko's white eyes and Sara's brown.

Ko smoothed into his defensive stance while Sara was about to pull out a revolver from her kitchen drawer.

 _Slamm-!_

But the source of the dark energy was no other than Hyuuga who has announced her arrival rather violently.

She had never ever slammed the door open or shut in her two years of living with Ko and Sara.

It was the most teenage-typical act of Hyuuga to have ever exhibited in front of the couple.

When he saw the pained expression on Hyuuga's face, like she was going to cry any minute, Ko approached her, "Hyuuga sama, are you alright?"

Without saying a word, she just gently placed her eco-bag on the kitchen counter and dashed up the stairs to her bedroom.

When she flung herself on her bed, she banged her face against her pillow repetitively.

"Why do they still have power over me?" she cried, "I am a hundred times stronger than I was two years ago, but why, why, why!"

More than those who have hurt and betrayed her, she was angrier and hurt over her inability to assert herself when she needed to.

By overreacting to the girl's surface level friendliness, she showed that she was still hurt like a wounded animal. And that showed that they still had power over her.

Even though technically it was her battle that she had won, emotionally she has fallen to her knees and admitted defeat. She tucked tail and ran from that honey blond beach bimbo who must have been one of Takahashi, Seto, or perhaps Karin's spectators.

Her tears started to leave blotchy water marks on her light purple pillow.

* * *

That evening, she tried to be at her best spirits when Ko and Sara celebrated her sixteenth birthday, the third birthday party to spend in their house, but the memories in the Palace felt too raw and real to be effaced.

She tried her best to ignore her ugly memories and distract herself with her loved ones, but what just transpired between her and the strange girl kept whispering into her ear: _You can't forget us._

"You look so tired, Hyuuga sama," Ko gently offered, "Would you like to get some early rest?"

She nodded and rose from her seat and trudged up the stairs.

After brushing her teeth and washing her face, she slipped into her night grown and crawled under her bed covers and tried to close her eyes and sleep.

Right when she was about to fall asleep around midnight, she felt she heard a familiar voice of a man that was low and monotone.

"Hyuuga."

The velvety, low voice felt like it has just drifted from her dreams in her half-asleep state.

But the voice called out her name again. It was slightly louder and more prominent, suggesting that the speaker was just outside the window.

"Hyuuga."

Her opaque purplish white eyes widened as she realized she wasn't dreaming.

As soon as that epiphany hit her, she pulled off her thick bed covers from her and ran barefoot toward the rattling window panes. The window panes vibrated as the mountain wind hit the glass with tremendous force.

When she pushed open the window panes, she stared wide-eyed at first and then her pale lavender eyes shone in recognition.

Unable to finish her words, she felt her nose turning warm, like the time when she accidentally breathed in hot cayenne pepper in Sara's kitchen.

Her throat was feeling hoarse and burning as well.

"Ahh..."

He was sitting on one of the branches of the large ginkgo tree that grew next to her bedroom window.

Like always, he was wearing a black uniform suit and cape, and he looked both relaxed and on edge like a restlessly hovering panther.

For a moment, they both didn't say anything and merely stood staring at each other like children.

He was the one to initiate the conversation, "You grew out your hair."

She smiled as she made a light joke, "I've became a little bit more high maintenance, Waker sama."

He grunted and turned his face slightly away, and she giggled a little. He really hasn't changed, and it felt new being able to make a joke like a mature adult.

Then Hyuuga saw his hand outstretched and she looked up to his face with inquisitive white eyes.

He slowly opened his mouth, and her eyes widened as she felt his last words taking her breath away,

"I've come back for you, Hyuuga."


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Author's Note: I am loving how the website browser doesn't crash when I am in the middle of writing or saving in Doc Manager. Keep up with the good work~! Much love to the website organizers, by never karma dumpling

Thank you so much for the reviews and 80 followers! I never take them granted and try my best to reflect my reviewers' opinions!

I decided to write last chapter from Past!Sasuke's perspective. Enjoy!

* * *

He didn't know what he exactly expected when he came all the way from the capital to see her.

Since he mentally marked the first day of the calendar, he had hard time suppressing his urge to rush to her side before her sixteenth birthday.

But appearing before the said date on their contract was against the rules and his pride as an Uchiha and the scion of the Realm.

So instead, he distracted himself by being an excessive workaholic.

Right at that moment, those exiled due to their affiliations to Orochimaru decided it was the best time to conglomerate and organize an insurrection to overthrow the Second Waker.

While working with him on the updated reports, Uzumaki groaned, 'Keeping Kabuto as hostage and the academy teacher wasn't a good idea, teme. His ex comrades just don't care about him anymore."

Uchiha agreed in silence, but he wasn't going to let Orochimaru's most skilled student die or waste away without getting everything he wants, including the ongoing project of the successful preservation of Itachi's Rinnegan.

 _Kabuto almost swore under his breath, "You mean...I have to preserve the ocular powers of the past Waker's Rinnegan till..."_

 _Sasuke confirmed his worst nightmare, "Until either of my eye becomes useless."_

 _The usually well-collected and composed scientist almost lost his wits, "But I am already in charge of maintaining your Rinnegan, you abusive Uchiha! You're going to kill me if your Rinnegan or sharingan for that matter goes wrong! And you're telling me I have to go chill and fresh up your dead brother's eyeball! You son of a -"_

 _His boss that he wanted to sue to some HR smirked, "And for that, I commend your services."_

 _Falling to his knees, he screamed, "Ahhhh!" Uchiha decided to leave him alone because he broke the news during his thirty minute lunch break and he had only five minutes left till his work shift as the Waker's Pearl candidates' biology and chemistry teacher._

To be honest, he doesn't blame Kabuto for wanting to kill him or get in his way.

Uchiha would easily rank as the worst boss in the Wakers' history.

It didn't sit well with that egomaniac scientist that a mere rookie who seemingly appeared out of nowhere killed his master and rose to power and relegated his status, from the most favored Akatsuki to overworked lab scientist, doctor, and junior high school teacher.

But compassion was never the Second Waker's strongest asset.

Starting from the north, the insurrectionists have been attacking and pillaging villages that refused to support them in their endeavor to overthrow the "Fake Second Waker" who had stolen their rights to rule and killed their previous masters, Itachi and Orochimaru.

More and more villages and cities were succumbing to the pressure of the terrorist group and conceded their control. The North was becoming a very dark place, indeed.

At the news of the envoy, the Second Waker calmly collected his weapons and basic belongings and left the capital to personally suppress these forces.

The manner in which he trampled their efforts to rebel was so bloody and haunting that the news reached every village, which was exactly his intention; it is easier to get it his way with fear than the sunny messages some dobe preaches on day to day basis.

His ruthlessness even made some of his adoring Waker's Pearl candidates turn ashen pale and briefly reconsider serving such a man. Haruno, for example.

The rest were too star struck that they had no qualms rationalizing some of his choices, like killing off the villages that were unwise enough to support the rebels with cereal crops, horses, and metal.

But as soon as he extinguished the vermin, his thoughts reverted back to gentle pale lavender eyes, a little pointed nose, and shy smiles.

It has been close to three years since he last saw her, and he would even admit that he is a little curious, just a little, to see how she has changed or remained the same.

Did she decide to keep her hime hair cut and sport a bowl hair-cut like when she was ten? Or is her hair still up to her shoulders like the last time she saw her?

It is possible that she could have grown out her hair long. It was a secret that turned into public info thanks to Uzumaki that Uchiha likes long haired women. It reminded him of his late mother Mikoto after whom he got his deep dark eyes and fair skin tone.

Years of traveling and seeing the worst of mankind taught him to school his expressions into a cool mask of indifference, but recently he has been harboring emotions that made him feel uncomfortable.

Feeling both anxious and hopeful was an incredibly uncomfortable, strange experience to him.

'The sooner I see her, the better.'

He couldn't wait to feel like his usual self.

Not wanting to provoke Kabuto or the candidates' suspicion, he conducted his Waker chores with his notorious exactitude and efficiency even after the violent suppression of the Novo- Orochimaru forces ('That was the name they decided to call themselves,' he tsk'd, according to Jugo).

But deep inside, he has been bidding his time in anticipation to see Hyuuga and bring her home.

Also, the fact that Ko neglected to send monthly reports of Hyuuga's progress and emotional state for a full seven months has irked him, and he was anxious to see if they were treating her alright.

When the day has finally come close, he travelled two days on foot to the village right below the mountain where Hyuuga was living.

And it was when he was taking a break at the coffee place in the old town, he caught a glimpse of a young woman whose hair was long and black, with a blue sheen.

That gentle, calming chakra that rolled like undulating waves on a river bank. It was her.

He didn't experience any electric shock of excitement or fell off his chair when he saw the Hyuuga who has turned into a lovely sixteen year old maiden.

Instead, his dark eyes focused on her with a quiet, studious gaze that showed appreciation and even some longing.

'When she turns sixteen tonight, that is when I am bringing her home.'

When the thought occurred to hm, he felt his chest brim with an unknown emotion as he imagined the girl who blossomed into a woman walking by his side as they head back to where they belonged.

Seeing her wander in the marketplace, taking an appreciative look over some dried flower bouquets, calmed him immensely. With her, he doesn't need to rely on Kabuto's knock down pills.

"Hyuuga" he whispered breathlessly, "It's been so long." When he realized how much he actually missed her, he couldn't take it and he rose from his seat to just say hi-

But as if fate had other plans, a boy, about her age and wearing a long olive green apron, started greeting her with a smile that just screamed _Marry me._

"Hyuuga chan!"

Uchiha didn't like the casual suffix the boy just attached to her name, 'Hyuuga...chan?' His brow rose in his characteristic look of irritation.

She smiled, a delicate blush on her cheek whenever she sees a familiar, friendly face, "Ah, Hiroshi kun, how are you?"

Disappointed, Uchiha slumped back onto his seat, and a flirty red headed waitress offered to refill his cup. He declined, 'no, thank you,' without even looking at her direction and continued looking at her make small talk with 'country boy.'

He grumbled, 'I send her all the way from home so she can focus on her studies under Ko, but look at her, wasting her time...flirting with boys.'

Even though the rational side of him knew that Hyuuga was just trying to be kind, his childish whim that likes to appear whenever she is involved made him glower in disapproval at the 'Hitoshi kun' and Hyuuga.

His eyes sharpened in a predatory gaze as he scanned her back, tracing her long black hair to her round, plump hips, 'Flirting with boys...'

Imagining how to punish her for her promiscuity, he rested his chin on his hand and thrummed his pursed lips with his fingers.

He was sure her soft, round, chubby cheeks would glow fire-red if he even accuses her of shameless public flirting. If accusing her of flirting with boys is enough to set her off, then...

But an unwelcoming memory of Uzumaki's fleeting conversation with Konan intruded into his idle, private musings,

 _Konan: It's amazing to me how Uchiha sama remains so stoic in the face of so many attractive women who crave his attention._

 _Uzumaki: Nah~ I wager my wrist on that he's even a bigger hentai than the rest of us. The quiet ones are actually the most perverted._

 _Konan: (sighs) Uzumaki sama, if you can temper your enthusiasm for the opposite sex, that would be an amazing conservation of energy that benefits us all._

 _Uzumaki: But there are too many fine women~_

"That dobe," his potent glare seemed to drill a hole into the imaginary Uzumaki dancing in front of him, "I'm NOT a sick low-life."

"Of course, you're not~" the waitress that was bothering him with her annoying gawking approached him, "Why so serious?"

He rose, and after throwing the due tip on the counter, he left the coffee place to follow Hyuuga.

'About time, she said good bye to Hisoshi.' he thought. ' Good riddance.'

But the test on his patience wasn't over. And this time, he failed miserably.

"Hey miss,"

A lecherous looking hunk and his equally brainless friend stopped her in her tracks. She just got her groceries and mail and was about to set foot outside of the clearly demarked entrance to the village town.

Although her guts told her that these men were not stopping her to ask the way to the supermarket, she paused because she didn't want to forgo the possibility that these creepy looking men just might have an innocent question.

"Do you need help carrying those, miss?"

She tilted her head in confusion, "These?" She pointed to her light canvas bag that held her milk and light groceries.

It took time for the innocent woman to realize what they meant by "burdensome rack," and flustered and embarrassed, she ran into the woods.

He didn't miss the fact that her eyes almost teared up in mortification.

"Hey, yo mama! Moooo~ mooo~"

His ever observant eyes also caught sight of her shoulders drooping low as they laughed and slapped each other's backs.

 _Crack_ went Uchiha's thin slab of patience that tightly corked the conduit to his volcanic fury.

As soon as he cast a smooth genjitsu, he deluded them into believing they were going to their favorite pub and almost destroyed the barrier between the reality and his artificial world in his fit of rage.

Thankfully, images of fear and disappointment in bright pearl white eyes kept his level of violence on check, but the impact caused a ripple effect of contaminating the bustling village with an unexplainable chill and disquieting barrenness.

After he finished his business with the men who assaulted his future Waker's Pearl, it was already evening when he can see the faint silhouette of the moon on the other side.

He took on the trees to get to Ko's shelter where he expected her, but when he arrived, she wasn't there.

'She's taking some time.'

So he decided to sit on the branch of the nearby gingko tree, its overarching, thick branch stretching by the second story window pane where he can see lilac pink curtains.

He gingerly brushed off the snow on the majestic branch and stretched out his endless, long legs and rested his tired back on the truck and closed his eyes.

While he was waiting for her, he overheard the sound of clanging pots and Ko's conversation with his wife.

"Do you think the Uchiha will really come for her?"

He cannot help but pay attention to the woman's words. His kekkei genkai activated for a brief moment as he imagined Ko and his wife breaking their promise.

"I've never really liked him, but I especially don't like the rumors that are going on. Hyuuga's like family to us now. We can't leave her under the care of such cold, devilish man."

That kind of judgment would have made him snort in condescension, but he understood where she was coming from.

His recent example of ruling over the Realm was not the epitome of benign authority in his mind either.

But his ex guard Ko whom he permitted to live in the Realm with his outsider wife defended him.

"Uchiha sama never does anything beyond the point of necessary," a pause, "It seems that the insurrection forces joined with the Palace defectors had him stirred up."

"Even so..."

"Sara, we signed a contract. We agreed to take care of her for three years."

"After all these three years, you're willing to give her back like she-she's some book you borrowed?"

'That woman has some nerve,' Uchiha mused, 'thinking she can break her oath to the Second Waker.'

When he recognized Hyuuga's special chakra, his head snapped in anticipation and he almost leaped from the tree.

But what he saw was clear rage and self-loathing in her pale lavender eyes as she stomped toward his general direction.

'Was she still upset over what happened?' he wondered as he heard the door slam below him. But he can't do anything to solve that, right?

If that was the case, he can bring them back to life and just kill them in front of her. His Rinnegan can, but he can't imagine Hyuuga actually appreciating him doing it.

He also felt a faint trace of familiar chakra that he didn't like smelling on her, 'Uzumaki?'

A sharp glint in his eyes appeared, 'What is that fox doing here?'

His eyes saw blood red, but a calmer side of him convinced him that if Hyuuga saw the First, her 'angel sama,' her mood would be in metaphorical heaven, not soured and furious like the state she was in.

Breaking into a deep sigh, he placed his head on the tree truck and closed his eyes to calm his raging mind.

Just thinking about Hyuuga and seeing her face has the tendency to put him a wild pendulum, from euphoric anticipation and an unreasonable need to do wreak havoc.

He decided he didn't want her to see him like this, all pent up after three years.

He's not the type to traditionally approach with roses but even he knew that an unstable, angst-ridden man serenading her outside her bedroom window is enough to drive away even a willing companion.

But he stopped in his tracks, 'No, wait. I am her teacher and future master. After that she is going to be my Waker's Pearl.'

He shook his head adamantly before looking for a nearby lake where he can meditate and practice training so he can calm down and see Hyuuga.

It was already half an hour before the long awaited moment when he looked up at the full moon, his face slightly damp with sweat and his mouth breathing out misty vapor due to the cold.

He stood tall in the middle of trees he has cut and arranged so he can have his temporary training ground, his chest rising and falling in a steady rhythm due to the exertion of the tough exercise.

He trudged through the snow and knelt before the clear stream that stretched to the right.

 _Splash_

After splashing some cold water onto his face, he stopped his movements and looked over the rippling surface until it smoothed itself into a glassy reflection of his face.

His wet inky dark hair stuck to his high cheekbone and pale forehead, and actually liking how he looked at that moment, he smoothed over his jet black hair with his wet fingers, for once making his wild mane look a little bit tamed and smooth.

For the first time since he killed his brother, he took time to look into his face, studying the strong planes and the way the contour of his high ridged nose rises and falls as he breathes warm vapor into his wet hands.

The slightly purplish dark circles beneath his prominent, dark eyes lent them an even larger, wolfish appearance, and he stared at his reflection with undivided attention before splashing more water onto his face for the final time.

He swiped his mouth with the back of his hand and looked at how his skin stretched almost comically as he abrasively rubbed on the left side of his cheek.

Once he decided he did enough self surveillance in front of the nature-made mirror, he rose and went back to the vicinity of Ko's household.

He was satisfied to see the lights all turned off in every window, and he kicked himself up and landed on the gingko branch that was next to Hyuuga's bedroom.

But when he got closer to the window with pink lilac colored curtains, he froze.

'What if she thinks I am too old?'

This thought hit him like a lightning, since he never, as far as he can recall, felt any insecurities related to his age.

As in mockery, the mountain wind passed by him, ruining his hair, and thrummed on her window planes as if daring him to go and say hi to the lovely girl who was sound asleep.

He thought that the exercise and waiting would calm his mind but he felt dismally underprepared to knock on her window and call her name.

Then he remembered what Ko's wife said _Do you think the Uchiha will really come for her?_

Exaggerating her scorn in his mind, he steeled his resolve and glared at the window as if it was the source of all his troubles and burdens.

'Of course, I've come for her. There's nobody else who can fulfill what she wants, other than me.'

He cleared his throat and took a seat on the gingko branch, "Hyuuga."

He felt a faint tremor in her chakra. She was awake. He decided to call her name once again.

Raising his eyes to her window, he called softly, "Hyuuga."

A spike in her chakra and the sound of footsteps running towards the window caught his breath and soon he saw the window open to reveal a dark silhouette of a girl with long hair.

He silenced his breath in fear that she'll hear his traitorous, booming heart as she slowly stepped closer under the silvery moonlight, revealing her straight cut dark hair bangs, soft nose, and thick pouty lips.

He was worried what he was going to do if she no longer had that childlike adoration, but her moonlight-reflecting opal eyes that scanned his face in disbelief and recognition cast away any remaining doubts about her not wanting to see him.

As she quickly inhaled, her nose turned red and eyes became watery. She looked completely at loss of words and didn't know what to say.

He took her speechlessness as an opportunity to closely observe how much she has changed over the three years.

She has grown a head tall and her long tresses looked even bluer under the moonlight. The winsome impression that always made her eyes look a bit teary even when she wasn't sad was still there. The shape of her eyes lost a bit of their innocent roundness but only because she has developed so much in early adulthood.

She was wearing a white laced sleepwear that revealed her slender neck and wrists with long, puffy sleeves. He assumed that the night gown would reach to her ankles.

His masculine gaze automatically fell from her soft, peach fuzzed cheeks down to her pale, moon-lit throat and collarbone, and fleetingly passed the perky bosom that asserted their presence under her thick cotton nightgown.

He slightly lowered his long-lashed eyes to rest his gaze on her soft hands holding on the window sill, keeping her from tilting forward and falling over.

He noticed how she no longer had childish dimpled hands, but fine fingered ones that showed bruises, proud results of years of Taijutsu practices.

His eyes then looked up and took in the overall picture-a strange blend of what was fleshy and tangible and utterly sublime. She looked like a mirage that would disappear as a moon-cast illusion once a mere mortal man speaks to her.

He had never witnessed a better view under such bewitching night hour.

Not accustomed to giving compliments based on looks, his tongue clumsily rolled out "You grew out your hair." But even his matter-of-fact tone had a subtle but unmistakable touch of nostalgia.

Her full moon eyes became crescent shaped as she smiled, an impossibly exquisite smile, "I've became a little bit more high maintenance, Waker sama."

He didn't expect such a playful statement from those innocent pair of lips, so he turned his face away, hoping that her knowing giggle doesn't mean she saw the blush on his face.

'What does she mean by being high maintenance?' he wondered furiously, 'Is she saying that she's too much for me to handle? Moreover...

Does she even realize how flirtatious she is being? To a man at such a late hour? Since when did she learn to be so good at this stuff?'

Outwardly, he was still as a stone, but his heart palpitating with the loud sound, _thud thud_ , complained about the narrow confines of his chest, threatening to burst out if he doesn't do something quick.

He glanced at her, she was still giggling gently, seemingly pleased at herself for showing her wit without overdoing it. It was quite cute of her to show so much elation for her little success.

She was being cute, but now it was his turn to show her what he got under his sleeves.

"I've come for you," he gave her his hand, "Hyuuga"

When he extended his hand and told her his purpose of coming up to her door, she blushed and fidgeted with her fingers, not knowing what to do after his gallant, bold gesture. He smirked. This was more like it.

"Waker sama, I..."

She looked unsure for a moment as she stared at the fuzzy snow flakes falling one by one on her master's outstretched palm.

He didn't want her to pressure her, for he understood the risk of leaving the young, tender-hearted Hyuuga with Ko and his wife.

Leaving her with the childless couple hungry for someone to love was like ripping off his arm and leaving it in a middle of wolf infested plains.

Many nights he worried about the possibility that Hyuuga would change her mind about being his Waker's Pearl and instead live in content as a happy mountain girl with a loving mother and father.

But when he saw the light of determination in her eyes, he knew he had once again emerged a winner and he squeezed her hand in a tiny expression of relief and something more:gratitude.

Then with a surprising amount of strength and gentleness, he hugged her tight by the shoulders and lifted her out of her bedroom window. Her eyes were wide as he slipped his other arm beneath her legs and gently murmured "be careful." He can feel her tiny body's temperature rising as he breathed close to her forehead. They were outside.

Holding her with a slightly tighter grip, Uchiha swiftly landed on the snow-covered ground. She was securely his arms, swaddled in his cape like three years ago.

When he rose to his full height, he let Hyuuga stand on her both feet, her head covered by his cape like a shawl worn by brides in their wedding.

He quite liked that look on her.

He then turned his head towards Ko and Sara who were standing in front if their doorsteps. It seemed they were waiting for him.

He calmly asked, "What is the meaning of all this?"

Sara covered her face and dropped her revolver and cried. The gun sank deep into the snow. "Please don't take her away from us. She's like a long lost child to us now. We can't imagine our lives without her."

Uchiha coldly turned his eyes to Ko, but he merely bowed his head and held her shoulders in silent agreement with what she said.

Three years is not a short time from human perspective, and he was frankly not surprised to see how much Ko and his family grew to love her as if she was their own. In a short amount of time, she became the perfect daughter they've always dreamed of.

'But,' he thought coldly, 'she isn't theirs. She is mine."

Meanwhile, Hyuuga looked like she was going to cry, "Sara san...Ko sensei..."

"Hyuuga," In a paradoxically impatient and soothing gesture, he wrapped her slender shoulders with his right arm and looked into her eyes, reminding her of her promise.

Dwarfed by the tall, dark man standing and wrapping his arm possessively over her shorter frame, Hyuuga looked back to see Ko comforting his heartbroken wife.

"I-I-I'm sorry, Sara san," her voice quivered as she tried to hold back her tears, "Bu-but, I-I have to do this..."

She continued, "You both were...ev-everything I could've asked for, but..."

Sara shook her head and wiped her tears gingerly with her thumb, "No, I'm sorry, Hyuuga. I always knew how important your revenge was for you. I wanted you to change your mind, but...I guess it's your choice."

Stroking his wife's arm in a comforting gesture, Ko warmly smiled toward Hyuuga, "Hyuuga sama, I know you'll achieve your dreams wherever you go. Please remember us and don't forget to stop by."

"Yes, I will, I-" but when she felt the gentle press of Uchiha's hand on her shoulder, she paused, understanding his message that there is not much time.

Shivering, she looked back at the people who showed her familial love for the first time and whispered mournfully, "...Good bye."

Then the wind's shrill whistle drowned Ko and Sara's farewell biddings, and they lifted their arms to protect their faces from the blizzard, only to find out later that the two have already disappeared like specters.

The light pastel cloud overarching their house looked flat among the hazy purple winter sky, and stars were nowhere to be found.


	16. Chapter 16

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Author's Notes:So I've been juggling with this idea in my head for some time, and I wanted to ask you how you guys think of this.

I just re-uploaded my beginning chapters, planning to add some fluff or description here and there. I combined chapters to decrease the number of chapters and add justice to each. I am in the process of idea-vomiting, so I am kind of worried about completely rehashing my chapters right now. It is such an important phase of writing. What do you think?Was it worth it?

Thank you so much for your kind, encouraging reviews! I've been struggling with my PMS symptoms, and I was like "f-it, I'm going to do whatever the hell I want." Hence, chocolate, fanfic binge writing, and binge review reading. So thank you so much for your reviews. Anything from a single word to an essay length review makes me immensely happy, you won't believe.

* * *

A few days after the Second Waker left, Haruno was feeling more listless than usual.

The Second Waker has changed his attitude to the public ever since he threw Hyuuga off the cliff to redress the controversy over his possible favoritism.

For the past three years, the Second Waker has been amazingly good at making public appearances, even smiling (!) and answering a few of the candidates' questions related to Justus and chakra usage time to time.

She was glad to see him more often, but no matter how hard she had strived to exceed her peers, he never gave her more than the due respect and appraisal for one of the best candidates in the Realm.

She wanted to think that was enough, but she can't help but want, crave more than just a well-worded recognition and compliment of her talents and skills.

But since the war has broken out in the North and disrupted the balance of the Realm, he had been gone for a good five days.

She missed him, even if it meant she could only see him from a distance as he walked pass the arcade, conversing with the Akatsukis.

Seeing her beautiful and popular friend's distress, Satoshi suggested that they all go for a walk around the palace.

"The snow has melted a lot and the weather is dazzling, Haruno!"

Haruno contemplated and then finally gave in, as she was getting tired of being blue.

Always used to being surrounded by her group of popular, overachieving friends, Haruno agreed and they strode the ornate marble pathways over towers and across palace orchards.

From the bird's eye's view, they looked like a throng of butterflies awakening in spring and Haruno looked like their queen.

Ascending the stone steps that reached the parapeted walls, Haruno was looking at how much the snow has already melted over the breathtaking, oil painting-perfect vistas.

She murmured, "It's already that time of the year."

One of her admirers who were happy to act as her handmaids, Kemura, a brunette with pig tails, tilted her head in confusion, "Yes, Haruno chan?"

Haruno flashed a smile and hastily shook her hand, "Nothing!"

But when her friends started walking ahead and whined about the upcoming midterms, she zoned out and kept thinking about her timid, stuttering friend who gave her the biggest shock of her life.

'Why did she do that?' she wondered, 'Was all her gentleness, her ability to listen and say the right words at the right time just a ruse?'

Three years have passed, but she still couldn't get over the fact that her best friend got behind her back to send such cheap, flattering letters to Uchiha.

All the while she denied having any romantic feelings towards him, even getting in a stupid, petty fight with her over it.

'Was that all just a big lie?'

She remembered how she was so hurt at that time that all she wanted to do was hurt Hyuuga as well.

Jealousy and confusion clouded her judgment, and being thirteen years old, she did what came the easiest: denouncing their friendship and hitting Hyuuga where she knew would hurt most.

 _"Ha-Haruno chan...is-is...it true? You-you...hated...being with me?"_

 _"Yes."_

She always knew that Hyuuga felt deeply insecure about herself and had a habit of comparing herself to others, including herself.

If she can turn back time and prevent her undeserved, violent death, she would beat the truth out of her and later apologize about saying that she was a bother, a nuisance.

 _"You're like a leech! You always take from me! You took my popularity with my friends and my time! Why can't you be good at least one thing, Hyuuga? You're useless!"_

She clenched her eyes tight in a desperate attempt to shut away the memories of pained pearlescent white eyes and tears.

Because that just wasn't true. If anything, Haruno got out of her way to avoid her hypocritical 'friends' who flatter her but then talk shit about every little thing she has done or didn't do.

She enjoyed being with the genuine, kind-hearted Hyuuga a hundred times more than the back-stabbing, bitchy crew or even her blind admirers who try to put her in the 'perfect student' box all the time.

Sure, sometimes she would get aggravated by Hyuuga's slowness in learning and indecisive personality time to time, but overall, she enjoyed being with her sweet, loyal, and quirky friend who lets her be herself.

'But it's too late,' she thought. 'Hyuuga has been dead for three years. Everybody, even her most ardent bullies, has seemed to have forgotten about her.'

She remembered the conversation Seto, Murakami, and Takahashi had after they arrived in the Palace that day Hyuuga died.

 _It was Seto who started the uncomfortable conversation, "I mean, I kind of think Second Waker sama went over the board, but...she **was** a compulsive liar and an ass-kisser literally till the end of her life." _

_She affirmed Haruno's suspicion that Seto was a narcissistic sociopath._

 _Also wanting to feel justified and blameless, Murakami joined in, "Yeah! Look at her trying to cuddle up to Uchiha sama after doing that to Haruno. And all she says is lies, lies, and more lies."_

 _Takahashi uttered the final punchline, "Hypocritical bitch, I'm glad she's dead."_

 _At that moment, Haruno couldn't take it longer, "Stop it! Stop it! Just shut up!"_

 _When she plugged both of her ears and shivered, tears streaming from her face, Seto affronted her, "Hey, Haruno. The last person who should act up is you, you know that right?"_

 _Her emerald eyes widened when she heard Seto go on, "I mean, she looked so dead when you said that, that she was already dead before she fell off that cliff. She didn't look half as shook when we confronted her, so don't get all preachy in front of us. It's frankly disgusting._

After that needless to say there was a major rift between Haruno and Seto's trio that she would even refuse to acknowledge them in group or classroom settings.

She could still see the golden meadow that was adjacent to the hay barn, where she would sneak out with Hyuuga to share lunch.

Then she turned and saw one of the inner courtyards that had a small koi fish pond where they would surreptitiously dip their tired feet after an exhaustive training.

Now she could barely go near those places because she felt like she was being watched by Hyuuga's resentful, hurt eyes.

When she was wandering in these reveries, she saw someone running towards her on the parapeted stone wall. Brown locks of pig tails. It was Kemura.

"Guys, guys! You should hear what I found!"

Panting profusely, Kemura beat her chest to calm herself down from the exertion of running.

A girl whose name Haruno has forgotten asked,"What, what is it?"

"Somebody, somebody has come to the Palace-and" Kemura had to catch several very deep breaths to get her words out.

Another girl asked impatiently, "And?"

"She said, she said her name is Hyuuga!"

The wind blew Haruno's pink hair across her petal soft face as she gasped, "Hyu...uga?"

* * *

When Haruno ran to the main courtyard, her emerald eyes spotted a distant figure with long dark hair that blew in the wind.

The petite intruder with long dark hair billowing in the breeze was surrounded by other Waker's Pearl candidates who brandished their weapons in hand.

Slinging a simple gym backpack over her left shoulder, she stood tall as she eyed her victims with cool disinterest and finally focused on Haruno.

She grew taller and her face and overall figure has slimmed a lot, her baby fat has almost disappeared, revealing a slim chin and the feminine curves of her upper body, which Haruno never knew existed and seamless, smooth legs.

The change she noticed in her long lost friend felt dramatic, but Haruno knew from her heart who she was.

A chilly February breeze passed between Haruno and Hyuuga, swaying her long strand of black hair across her pale face and unperturbed white eyes.

The pink haired woman couldn't help but let her name escape from her lips like a faint sigh, "Hyu...ga..."

The young woman with long smooth hair returned Haruno's surprised stare with a calm, serene gaze.

One of the candidates who were kneeling on the ground and grabbing her wound cried, "Haruno, don't get close to her!'

Only then Haruno's head jerked up and she saw the scattered candidates who groaned in pain as they coached over the ground.

Another girl cried, "She's paralyzed us!" She then glowered at the girl with long, swaying hair, "What did you to us, you traitor?"

Only Hyuuga was standing straight and unscathed, not even showing a single bruise or damage anywhere on her body or clothes.

Even her light lavender robe and dark tights looked immaculate and devoid of wrinkles that are natural for such physical activity.

Hyuuga cast a fleeting look at the girl who called her 'traitor,' but she turned her attention back to the biggest reason she has come back.

In the girls' narrow minds that refused to admit their defeat, Hyuuga paralyzed their movements due to some dirty trick like air-transmitted poison or black magic.

But in reality what she really did was blocking their tenjutsu points to tamp their physical interactions to the minimum. She didn't want to go all out in her first day of coming back to the Palace and they were the ones to attack her right away without provocation.

When her pale pouty lips opened, a melodic, airy voice resonated in the courtyard through the air.

Her voice was soft and delicate by nature, but the way her crystalline lavender eyes stared at her old comrades and present enemies lent her voice a dangerous edge.

"It's been a while," Hyuuga's full moon eyes narrowed, "...Haruno."

Stunned by her effortlessness that she didn't expect at all, Haruno almost stammered as she asked, "Hyuuga, how did you?"

Fastening her backpack that was slung over her left shoulder, Hyuuga closed her eyes as in thought but opened as she calmly gave her half answer,

"I'm here to reclaim my place as the Waker's Pearl candidate. Konan sensei has permitted my return. The only condition was to pass the main courtyard."

She turned and stared down at one of the girls who were still stuck to the ground and gritting their teeth, "I didn't expect such an...enthusiastic greeting."

Haruno's clear emerald eyes widened as she focused on Hyuuga's disquieting tranquility, 'Is this really the old Hyuuga? She's so...cold!'

'And this chakra,' she swallowed, 'I never felt someone emanate this kind of chakra before. It's like being enveloped by a deceptively soft and calming mist. But I can feel the threat!"

Hyuuga closed her eyes as if seeing their rage wasn't worth it, "I've been on a long travel, so I would like to retire to my room."

Passing by Haruno's side without even a nod, Hyuuga uttered, "Until then."

As she felt Hyuuga pass by her side, Haruno came to her senses and turned to detain her, "Hyuuga, wait!"

But as soon as her hand tried to close over her shoulder, she felt a sharp sting of chakra, akin to an electric shock, as the long haired girl turned and grabbed her wrist.

"I'm not the Hyuuga I used to be, Haruno," she warned as she tightened her manacle clasp on her wrist, the sound of chakra zapping like the chirping of birds.

But the Waker's Pearl candidates weren't the only ones watching Haruno and Hyuuga.

From a distance, White Zetsu was staring at his favorite student who was missing for three years, "...Little poo?"

'What a fine lady she has become!' he became quickly sentimental, lifting his hands to cover his mouth, a tear threatening to escape his eye.

Unaware of her old teacher looking at her with affection and pride, Hyuuga looked straight into Haruno's green eyes and spoke with frigid clarity, "I wouldn't be so confrontational if I were you."

Haruno stared at Hyuuga, "How could this...be?!" The pink haired girl gritted her teeth,

 _Swi-ish!_

Hyuuga's eyes widened. Haruno was not only able to break free from her chakra-bound grasp, but she also flung her fist that could've smashed her right on the nose if she didn't deflect the blow and slide back in time.

Even Ko sensei wasn't able to break free so easily if she managed to grab him. But he had his speed to make up for it. Haruno had some mad talent, she had to give her that.

Haruno swiped her mouth with the back of her fingerless glove-clad hand, "That sound, the cry of thousand birds. It's almost like Uchiha sama's chidori!"

Bending one knee on the ground, Hyuuga observed the change in the pink girl's facial expressions, how her pretty face showed rage and disbelief.

'This is it,' she thought as she saw Haruno's rage, 'this is what I wanted. To turn the tables on my enemies.'

Meanwhile her pink haired friend was trying to analyze this strange correlation, "What you did was clearly not chidori. Yours is too brief, formless, effusive like a sting ray. Uchiha sama can ascribe lasting physicality to his chakra. That is why his chidori looks like a blue orb of light."

The pale-eyed girl frowned. Her ex-best friend's level of observation shows that she has both brains and beauty. She thought, 'As I thought, it's going to take my everything to defear her.'

Even though Hyuuga observed Uchiha's training in close distance (he allowed her to stand and watch many times), she couldn't articulate the mechanism behind his powers as fluently as Haruno.

Haruno continued, "How are you going to explain this, Hyuuga? I'm sure you won't just say it was a coincidence that your chakra attack sounds like one of Uchiha sama's signature moves, the thousand bird's cry-'Chidori.'"

"I have to say," Hyuuga slowly rose, as gracefully as a white crane, "I wasn't even aware of it."

She tilted her head to the side and lowered her long lashed eyes, "I must have picked it up during my one on one training with my master."

There was a noticeable tick on Haruno's delicate jaw, "One...on one?"

Hyuuga delivered her final blow, with an air of disinterest, "Surely nobody can blame a student for wanting to take after her teacher."

At her words, Haruno roared, "Hyuuga!" and charged towards the girl with jet black hair, who calmly pulled out her chakra laced water needles from her bag and spun them toward the pink haired girl.

But Haruno dodged and ducked the blow of the needles and in an alarming speed, she abridged the distance between her and Hyuuga.

One projectile needle managed to graze her narrowly below her eye, and she started bleeding.

 _Craash!_

When she landed a fist where she was just standing, Hyuuga flitted out of the way and evaded being squashed like the crumbling rock tiles.

Activating her byakugan, she looked into the vein-like channels of chakra in Haruno's body, and she can't help but admire her superb chakra control.

'If I can just manage to even graze three taijutsus," she eyed the center of Haruno's chest, the pressure point on her quadricep muscle, and her right shoulder blade, 'I can trap her in the eight trigrams and attack her with the sixty-four palms!'

But it was easier said than done.

The other spectators watched the interplay of fists and palms and legs and pads of feet in awe. Haruno's style was aggressive like a charging bull, which one couldn't predict just by looking at her lithe body and small fists.

However, her well-toned, athletic, and slender figure was pent up with wiry strength that made her faster than a gazelle and fierce like a roaring hurricane.

Hidan, one of the Akatsuki senseis, wasn't one to miss a good show. He observed, 'Hyuuga is nowhere near as fast as Haruno. _She_ is the true speeding dare devil. Her belligerent punches can crumble any natural material into dust. I taught her that.'

One of their audience was Deidara, the other teacher who thought there was no way for Hyuuga, estranged from the Palace for three years, can beat Haruno.

He was struck by how aggressively Hyuuga butted into Haruno's personal bubble while clearly she was overmatched by her strength and speed, 'Was Hyuuga always this reckless? It's like she's begging to be smashed by Haruno!'

But the artist in him cannot help but appreciate Hyuuga's movements. Everywhere from her provocative pearl eyes and light, feathery steps, She seemed better fit in the center of a traditional ball room with a fan than a battleground.

The way she flicked her wrists and her long, sleek hair moved along her gyrating body was deceptively off the cuff, rhythmic, and artistic, but a single stroke, touch promised to offer its deadliest.

Haruno taunted, "Where is your confidence, Hyuuga?" before stepping back and kneeling on the ground on one leg, catching her breath. It's been a while since she has engaged in such a pent up fight with one of her peers.

But her opponent merely studied her with her all knowing pearl white eyes before suddenly disappearing in the air and materializing behind her back.

Haruno's emerald irises dilated in shock, and she swerved her long right leg to kick Hyuuga off the balance. But her reflex wasn't fast enough to trip Hyuuga off and instead she accidentally gave full access to her most used right leg to her enemy.

When she saw Hyuuga's eyes sharpen at the sight of her exposed thigh, 'Oh, crap!' but it seemed too late.

'Now's my chance!'

Wasting no time when she saw Haruno's defenseless leg, she went for the attack, her palm charging so sharply that it looked like a silver blade in the less experienced fighters' eyes.

 _Crrack!_

The collision between Hyuuga's tilted palm and Haruno's palms crossed in an X threw the spectators off guard with the copious amount of sand and wind.

Haruno's foot that supported her while she blocked Hyuuga's strike cracked the marble tiles down.

With her free hand, Hyuuga attacked Haruno on the left side of her rib cage and blocked her seven Taijutsu points in blinding speed.

As she felt her rib muscles lock in stone-like immobility, Haruno grunted, "Oomph!"

But before she can block further of her Taijutsu points, Haruno dug her foot underneath one of the 5 inch stone tiles and kicked it up.

 _Crack-!_

The brick hit Hyuuga square on the chin.

After soaring far above the ground, Hyuuga landed with a resounding crash on the stone tiles flat on her back, uprooting more by the effect of her fall.

She wouldn't be surprised if her jaw got disjointed by getting hit by a flying stone tile. She groaned as she felt her bleeding chin.

But soon she felt Haruno's presence as she stood before her lying form, ready to land another powerful fist.

'She broke out of my chakra blockage attacks!' Hyuuga rolled and barely ducked the powerful blow.

To solve the mystery, she activated her byakugan.

'Haruno...She has channeled her chakra from other parts of her body to her paralyzed rib. That was how she easily broke free from my chakra immobilization.'

Feeling a vibrating ache that threatened to unhinge her jaw, Hyuuga fell to her knees and panted.

As she saw Haruno charge towards her, she thought, 'Is this the only way I can do this? My revenge? Can I only win if I have this thing called _killing intent?_ "

All of the watching candidates crossed their arms as they waited to see what Hyuuga will do. Will she admit defeat or strike back?

Hidan crossed his arms, "I guess this is it. Haruno has won. No miracles."

But White Zetsu, who was holding his breath, murmured, "Wait...little poo?"

When Haruno was merely a foot away from swinging her deadly fist against Hyuuga, Zetsu cried, "Little poo, no, wait!"

 _Sagaak-!_

When the anticipated sound of bone crushing didn't happen, everyone hushed their breath, not knowing what to expect. What they heard instead was similar to the sound of a sharp iron blade cutting skin like apple peelings.

What everyone present saw was Hyuuga holding out her both palms, creating a protective barrier of thin, diamond-shaped chakra blades, one of which went straight through his arm.

Zetsu happened to push Haruno back behind him, right before Hyuuga displayed her creation, Protective Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms,Shugohakke Rokujūyon Shō.

At the sight of blood dripping from his drilled arm, the candidates screamed, "Kyahh!"

Her palms still extended and holding up her chakra blade fence barrier, Hyuuga stared in disbelief at the sight of her bleeding, former teacher.

Hyuuga cried, "Ze...Zetsu sensei!"

Deactivating her byakugan and protective sixty four palms, Hyuuga tried to approach her bleeding teacher but he shook his hand, "Step...back, Hyuuga."

At his words, she stepped back and trembled, "Ze-Zetsu sensei, I'm so, so sorry. I didn't mean-"

But Zetsu turned and asked Haruno he was shielding with his mellifluous body, "You alright, Haruno?"

Dumb-founded by the turn of events, Haruno nodded, "Ye-yes, sensei. Thank you."

But it was Hyuuga who was hit by the biggest shock, "Zetsu sensei..."

"Now, now," Deidara clapped his hands, "everyone, the show is over. Now go and mind your own business."

Hidan ordered, "Haruno, go escort Zetsu to the infirmary."

Hyuuga stepped forward, "Hi-Hidan sensei, I could take Zetsu sensei! It's my fault, so please-"

Hidan coldly retorted, "Hyuuga, you're lucky that it was Zetsu who got the blow, not Haruno. If you killed Haruno, you would've been put to death by the Second Waker."

Hyuuga felt like something hard like a rock just fell on her chest.

'I almost,' she trembled, 'killed Hyuuga. And I even hurt Zetsu sensei. What have I done?"

Zetsu panted and managed a few words, "Hey, Hidan. Give her a break. It was an accident. She acted out cause she got scared and it was Haruno who started the fight-"

Hidan snapped, "Even if it was an accident, she could've killed her or even seriously impair her ability to fight."

He turned his attention to the petite woman with long, dark hair, "Hyuuga, I'll turn a blind eye to this, but I'll be watching you."

Turning his back on Hyuuga, he ordered, "Scram. I hate to see the face of sneaky losers."

Biting her pale pink lip, she shut her eyes tight and bowed. Then she turned and ran in the opposite direction from the main courtyard.

Thankfully, her spooked peers cleared the way and she had no problem leaving the premise.

Haruno's emerald eyes focused on the retreating back of Hyuuga, "Hyuuga..."

Meanwhile, Deidara was beyond shocked by the destruction of the beautiful marble tiles that he himself designed.

He cried, "Hyuuga, don't think that this is over! You'll clean up these tiles! Haruno, you too!"

* * *

The First Waker, Uzumaki was enjoying his dango while he walked idly in the West courtyard where he invited local street vendors to cook his favorite street food from his hometown, Konoha.

"Umm," he sucked on the sweet sesame seed sauce that got on his fingers, "still not as good as the actual stuff, though. God, I miss home."

 _Sagaak- Sagaak_

 _Chip-chip-chip_

(Sniff, sniff)

But the sound of a sharp metal tip gently scraping on stone and someone sniffing held his interest.

He leaned over, his dango stick in his chewing mouth, "Hmm?"

When he took a few steps back, he saw a familiar person, a small girl with long blue-black hair, sitting on a stone bench and tearfully scraping off bits of stone off a marble tile with a chisel.

A chill went down his spine, 'Gah, she looks like some emo ghost."

But then he took a closer look, "Wait a minute..."

His jaw slack to the floor as he dropped his dango to the floor, "Hyu...ga?"

She was wiping her tears from her face with the back of her hand and dutifully engraving a flying phoenix that he assumed Deidara sketched for her on the marble tile.

Next to her, there was a tower of stacked marble tiles, at least twenty of them, waiting for Hyuuga's special amateur touch.

He quickly wiped his hands off his orange robe and took a few steps forward to the sniffling girl.

Raising his hand, he made a friendly smile, "Hey!"

Hyuuga jerked up her head, and her pale cheeks flushed a brilliant red, "Ah!"

Baring perfect white teeth, he smiled genuinely, "It's been a while!" His blue eyes crinkled as he flashed a roguish smile.

She suddenly stood up from her seat and bowed so deeply that she looked like she was stretching her back and legs, "U-Uzumaki sama!"

He laughed heartily at her excessive display of respect that bordered on reverence. "What are you doing here? I thought you were not living here anymore."

She stammered, still unable to lift her red, flustered face up, "I-I-I was-"

Strangely, she looked giddy as her feet shuffled uneasily and she almost tripped over herself. Uzumaki couldn't help but think it was weird. Was this the same fierce, cool girl who almost stuck a chakra ice needle right through his face?

She looked so clumsy that it was a sheer miracle that she didn't drop her tile and bash it to the floor.

And she was hugging the tile to her chest as if it was all she got.

Thinking that her silence and reticence was the sign of being upset, Uzumaki quickly apologized, "Oh, I didn't mean that you shouldn't be here, Hyuuga! I'm glad you are here!"

But she hugged the tile even tighter to her chest, "..."

Uzumaki was continuously baffled. Why was she not responding? If anything else, she looked even more nervous and on edge.

Her face looked really really red. He was frankly worried for her health.

He wondered, 'Was she that mad?'

To make up for his accidental blunder, he pointed to the other side of the West courtyard with his thumb, "Hey, if you aren't busy, do you want to go get something to eat? I invited some vendors from where I lived before coming here."

When the bowing girl finally rose to her full height and stared at him wide-eyed, he let out a little exhale of relief, "Yeah, it's on me. There is this thing called ramen-"

But someone suddenly interrupted his kind invitation, "Hyuuga!"

Uzumaki didn't know it was possible for her huge eyes to look even bigger.

It was Deidara, seething red and looking like he was going to throw a major hissy fit.

Deidara saw Uzumaki and Hyuuga and bowed courteously before his sovereign, "My lord."

And then he quickly straightened up and glared at Hyuuga, "Are you done with the tiles? I told you to get all the engravings done!"

Looking like a deer caught in headlights, she trembled, "I..."

"Huh!" Indignant, Deidara turned and stormed out, "You better not waste your time, Hyuuga! Haruno was done, cleaning and engraving the tiles in an hour!"

Uzumaki noticed how her knuckles turned white as she gripped on her tile. She was obviously panicking.

He turned to his subordinate, "Hey, Deidara, I don't know what is going on, but I don't condone belittling students by comparing them to one another."

"She destroyed the premises by engaging in a fight with Haruno. This is her due punishment, but she is slacking off!"

Uzumaki raised his eyebrow, "A fight? With Haruno?"

When he glanced at her, she looked like she was going to die of embarrassment.

He understands what it feels like to be made fun of so he decided to come to her aid for a little bit.

"How could you just assume that she was slacking off, just because Haruno completed the task sooner?"

Deidara was about to argue back, but he changed his mind, and with a haughty toss of his long blond pony tail, he turned and left.

Of course, he didn't forget shooting Hyuuga a glare of warning.

Uzumaki sighed, shaking his head as he stared at Deidara's back with disapproval, "What a dick."

He then turned to comfort Hyuuga, "Hey, don't mind that guy too much. He's just-"

But when he looked, she was suddenly gone.

'Did she not want to have anything to do with me?'

He had the Waker's Pearl candidates throng around Uchiha like honey bees, but he had yet to meet one to act as if he was not worth her time. He was the First Waker, and such attitude can hardly work in her favor.

* * *

(Sniff, sniff)

As she furiously chipped on the stone engraving, she can't help but fail at stifling her tears and blowing off steam. Heavy tear drops were rolling down her round cheeks and she was beyond furious. She was mortified.

"How could he," she can't even complete the words she was saying to herself. "All I wanted..." She just wanted to sob like a baby. It's childish, she knew, but she felt like her heart was about to break into a million pieces.

'How could Deidara sensei just humiliate me in front of no other than First Waker sama? All I wanted was just say hi to him in person and maybe hold a little conversation with him! Was that too much to ask?'

She sniffed and pressed her lips together to contain her sob, but she felt like one of those children she saw back in the village marketplace when she lived with Ko and Sara. A child sobbing pitifully when an older boy just snatched away her beloved plush bunny.

It's been three years. For three years, she had absolutely no access to the news of the First Waker, left alone, seeing him. She would daydream about accidentally seeing him in like...the woods when she was doing something mundane like collecting twigs for the fireplace.

Or even rescue him from getting mugged by bandits. Even though she knew it would be the bandits she had to worry about, not Uzumaki.

Those were the silly daydreams she did.

So when she finally got to the Palace, she decided that she just got another wish than revenge. While revenge was a goal, seeing him up close and having a back and forth chat was a wish upon a star.

Something to long and hope for and smile about before preparing her day and after going to bed.

All she wanted was to say hi. To be able to come close up to First Waker sama and just spend a little personal time.

Maybe show him her newly discovered talent in facilitating chakra flow which greatly eases muscle tension in the shoulders.

Just the sheer modesty of that wish and her inability to even get that made her feel so so sad and inadequate as a person and as a woman.

'Such a modest wish,' she sobbed quietly, 'but he took it away...'

She didn't expect her Angel-sama to actually ask her if she wanted to go eat street food with him, but when he did she considered pinching her own cheeks to see if it was true.

She thought maybe her crappy day was heading to a better turn, but then that stupid Deidara sensei just had to ruin her day.

Imagining the phoenix on the engraving to be Deidara (the draconic eyes and flamboyant feathers did remind her of his style), she applied even more pressure on her acute chisel on the stone tile.

But when she felt someone approach her, she lifted her tearful eyes.

Her eyes widened in recognition, "You-"

A tall blond girl with wide azure eyes blinked at her as soon as she saw Hyuuga's blotchy, red face.

And her pretty face almost comically changed, "Eh-?"

She quickly sat by Hyuuga's side, "Hey, Hyuuga, are you alright?" She reached to touch her face with concern.

 _Slap-_

But she quickly learned that Hyuuga didn't appreciate being touched in such a friendly manner.

As the blond beauty rubbed the back of her hand that got slapped away, the petite girl with long midnight blue hair rose from her crouched position.

Rubbing her reddened hand, the blond girl with whiskered marks on her cheeks whined, "Hey, I was just worried-"

But the way the petite girl's pearly eyes stared down at her was so cold, and her voice was dripping with scorn. "I didn't ask for your concern."

Hyuuga thought, 'I've almost killed Haruno in my first day. Zetsu sensei is in the infirmary because of me. I've just been humiliated in front of Uzumaki sama. And now this girl. She's acting all friendly and confusing again. I don't even know her name!'

Her fists clenched as she dug her nails into the tender flesh of her palm.

She studied the blond who was innocently blowing on her reddened hand,

"Hey," the blond girl still insisted on talking with the girl who showed that she hated her in every single way, "do you want to talk about it? I don't know why you're so upset, but maybe we can figure things out."

Hyuuga's eyes widened and she unconsciously licked her own lips, 'This girl...'

Even Haruno, back when they were best friends, wasn't so generous and soft-spoken with her. If Hyuuga ever crossed her in the slightest, it was given that it will turn into a full blown conflict.

But this stranger who she just slapped back was approaching her as if she was some wounded, discarded feral kitten.

'Maybe,' she can't help but think, 'it is genuine?'

Meanwhile, the blond, tan girl was wrestling what was in her, no **his** mind, 'Gosh, usually what gets girls upset. Hmm.'

Then Uzumaki snapped his internal fingers, 'Yeah, boys! Boy problems get girls upset! It's probably that because of Uchiha, she is crying. Girls here are tough but they like to cry about Uchiha all the time.'

Snapping her fingers, the mystery girl with whisker marks said out loud, "Someone broke your heart!"

When she saw the look on Hyuuga's face, she knew she had hit the bull's eye.

Feeling self-satisfied, Uzumaki stretched her long, lean arms and then scratched the back of her head, "Hey, boys are stupid anyways, so don't cry about them!"

When Hyuuga stood stunned, unable to say anything, the weird tan, blond beauty continued, "I know who you're crying about and honestly, I see girls cry about him all the time, but I don't get it, yo."

'It's strange,' Hyuuga thought, 'What she's saying is a complete insult against Uzumaki sama, but...her words feel strangely comforting. I am starting to feel better despite myself.'

She looked at the pretty girl's wide grin that made her face look a bit funny. It was amazing to her that such a pretty girl doesn't mind looking goofy. Hyuuga thought 'She reminds me of Haruno chan.'

But that thought got her scared, scared of getting hurt and betrayed by another girl who also sported bright, beautiful and warm eyes.

She shook her head. 'I can't let myself get soft.'

Staring down at the blond, she thought, 'She must just be one of those hypocritical types. Pretending to show compassion. And then waiting for the best time to strike.'

Her chest constricted as she was besieged by the memory of getting kicked out of her own bedroom by the very 'friends' whom she invited for tea about five years ago.

Then her pearl white eyes flared with the will to fight, 'I'm not letting that happen again. Second Waker sama didn't train me just to be some mean girl's pushover.'

She remembered what Second Waker sama told her on their way to the Palace.

 _As they crossed over a rather level trail on the hill, Hyuuga suddenly felt dread grip her heart._

 _"Waker sama..."_

 _He stopped and slightly turned, his dark eyebrow rising in question._

 _"Waker sama, if...the girls try to bully me, and I get stuck and not know what to say, what should I do?"_

 _He answered back with another question, "What makes you think you'll lose, Hyuuga?" His eyes were of a deep, pristine color-black._

 _She stuttered, "I-I th-think I have a good chance of winning in fights, now that you've trained me, but when it comes to words...I freeze."_

 _Uchiha was kind enough to look over some of her new taijutsu and ocular abilities during their two day trip back to the palace. He was a really talented, proficient teacher so she felt a lot more at ease going back, except for one thing that irks her._

 _Bowing her head, she suddenly found her dirty boots interesting, "I-I don't have the charisma you have, Waker sama. Is there anything I can do?"_

 _Eyeing his pupil, he then turned and sighed, "Why do you concern yourself so much with them? Before you even achieve your end goal, you'll have them on their knees."_

 _"Bu-but..." Honestly, sometimes Waker sama said things that felt too good to be true. But she can't challenge him because of his undeniable air of authority._

 _He saw how uncertain she still was of herself. He guessed that now that they're getting close to the Palace, the old memories were coming back to her._

 _Suddenly he came right in front of her._

 _She raised her light lavender eyes in surprise._

 _"When in doubt, say this." the Second Waker leaned over and whispered into her ear, "It has a 99% chance of working. As long as you're not dealing with a special idiot."_

Remembering Uchiha's magic words, she said, "You're..."

At her voice, the blond whiskered girl lifted her feline blue eyes, still stroking her sore hand.

"You're really annoying."

And she smirked, looking at the dopey face of the blond girl. 'Ha! That's what you get, you blond bimbo!'

But right when she turned and walked a few steps away, she heard a loud voice behind her, "Hey!"

The blond girl looked furious, a little vein ticking on her shapely jaw, "You can't just push away everyone who comes up to you, you know?"

She raised her voice even higher, when she saw Hyuuga's stunned face, "What did I even do to you?"

She was not even over when Hyuuga hastily turned away and ran off as if she was being chased. Uzumaki yelled, "You're not that kind of girl, Hyuuga!"

And if that was not enough, she yelled on top of her lungs for the world to hear, "And no matter what you do or say, I'm not gonna leave you alone!"

Hyuuga blushed a bright red, seeing the determined face of the girl with long lush blond hair.

'Uz...umaki?'

She felt like she was seeing her very special someone, but she must be getting delusional by the crazy train ride of events.

So she hid behind her hands and ran off, leaving the strange weirdo girl with the voice of a rattling metal pot behind.

But neither of them noticed someone watching them from above the tiled rooftops-the Second Waker, the last Uchiha.

He silently observed their interaction and turned away, his cloak fluttering.

* * *

As she ran, she felt her heart beating like a drum and her breathing getting faster and uppity. She felt as if her heart was going to combust any soon, so running was her only way of distraction.

Right when she was turning her corner in the labyrinthine pathway, she bumped into someone tall. She involuntarily stepped back as she felt a stinging, dull ache on her nose, because whoever that was, that man had some rock-hard pectorals.

She felt for her nose, 'Ah, it hurts.'

She was also feeling embarrassed as she squeaked "I'm so sorry." She was about to bow her head and turn and run, but when she glanced upward, she gasped, "Wa-waker sama!"

Wearing his impeccable, expressionless mask, he inquired flatly, "Where are you running off to, Hyuuga?"

But Hyuuga felt a new wave of fresh embarrassment, not wanting to tell Uchiha that she was running off to nowhere, "I..."

Then she immediately felt goosebumps rise on her skin and the downy hair on the back of her neck spike up as she heard a man's energetic voice behind her.

"Hey, teme!"

Her breath stilled, and Uchiha, who was standing right in front of her, noticed her instant response to just hearing the idiot.

His onyx eyes narrowed dangerously at the First Waker who looked the personification of sunshine and stupid.

As she saw the First Waker getting close, she eeped and quickly hid behind the Second Waker, clutching on his black cape to hide the profuse blush on her face.

When Uzumaki saw the petite girl quickly hide herself from him, his face froze in surprise and his entire body noticeably stiffened.

Then, as in understanding, his bright aqua blue eyes turned uncharacteristically cold. As if someone snuffed the effervescent candle of light and happiness in the First Waker.

Uzumaki himself was confused. He can't explain why but his chest pricked as he saw Hyuuga hide behind the Uchiha, all the while refusing to even return his greetings or even try to be at least courteous or respectful.

He's used to having the girls throng toward Uchiha and he'd even laugh about it. So really he shouldn't be making a big deal out of Hyuuga's impartiality to the Second.

Shifting his gaze away from Hyuuga's shivering, blushing face, Uchiha eyed Uzumaki squarely. Suddenly seeing Uchiha all tall and regal, with Hyuuga hiding behind him like a traumatized bunny, got on the First Waker's nerves.

And that said something. There was nobody as high spirited and relaxed as Uzumaki.

But he felt like someone bitter spirited was using him as an avatar. He felt so unlike himself. He didn't know what came over him, "It looks nice, seeing the biggest anti-socialites get together."

Uchiha felt Hyuuga flinch behind him.

He gave a warning look to Uzumaki to shut up.

After a moment of deliberation, he gave out his one last offer, just in case. "Anyone up for Konohan dango?"

The result was hearing Uchiha's stoic reply, "We decline."

But now he can feel the faint vibration of his cloak. Hyuuga was shivering, her face probably looking white as a ghost.

Uzumaki shrugged, and throwing one last sideway glance at Hyuuga, he made a tsk sound and walked away.

At the sight of him walking away, she felt something cold grip her chest, "Ah-"

Her heart felt like it was going to rip apart, 'Don't go, please. I didn't mean-'

She knew she offended him. But heaven knows, how much she wanted to join him. But she was so embarrassed and ashamed when Deidara exploded the news of her disorderly, violent conduct, her fight with Haruno the star student, and accusing her of being lazy that she couldn't bring herself to face him.

'If only I wasn't so shy,' she wanted to beat herself up. 'Now he thinks I am someone rude, impudent, and antisocial. And there is no-one to blame, but myself.'

She stepped forward, her delicate hand extended in the air in a her last desperate attempt to detain him, "Ah-"

But she felt a strong grip on her other arm. She turned to see coal black eyes with silently burning fire.

From his sculpted lips came a simple order that she was utterly powerless to defy, "Where do you think you're going, Hyuuga."

Fear turned her face ashen white and tears formed in her light lavender eyes, "U...Uchiha sama." But she can't help but desperately steal glances and then stare at Uzumaki's retreating form with tears in her eyes, forgetting that he was even standing there.

His elegant face became quickly unreadable, and it was taking everything in his sheer will to not snatch her in his arms and kiss her violently on the lips.

He didn't want to see her cry, especially to see tears caused by the dobe who doesn't know her like he does.

He instead grabbed her by the wrist and took her to the East courtyard, his private haven where he was going to teach her a lesson.

As he turned, taking Hyuuga with him, he glanced back, seeing Uzumaki watching them from afar.

Uzumaki might be short-sighted, full hardy, too loud, and he sports an immature sense of humor, but he can definitely notice red flags in peoples' character and relationships.

He looked at the two with subtle disgust bending his mouth in a downside, permanent frown, "Now that is a toxic relationship," but he cannot keep his concerned eyes away from Hyuuga who was getting dragged away like a calf to the slaughterhouse.


	17. Chapter 17

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Author's Notes:

I am planning to get the plot moving really fast. So when I'm done with the plot, I could go back and update some stuff. So please understand if there isn't enough character development or if it feels rushed or the plot seems unripe...cause it will be. It is totally due to my personality that likes to move things really quick. I get frustrated if I think things are not progressing fast enough.

Also, I am really really sorry for not being able to add as much Present!Sasuhina scenes as I'd like. I miss writing those scenes, and I can't wait for them either.

Another thing. I have updated my profile and added some trivia facts about Waker's Pearl, including the songs I listen to when I write about Sasu and Hina!

Thanks for reading. I just really wanted to clarify some things before I go ahead. Enjoy~

* * *

It is impossible for her to forget the moment he stared down at her with eyes that she never knew could be so cold.

When he gave her that look that can freeze the sun, she knew she fell out of his good graces. The moment her shyness took over her and she hid behind the Second Waker, the safe harbor who always managed to save her when she is besieged by her own terrors.

'What did you expect?' she admonished herself, 'You hid. And _he_ was the one to approach you. Both times. And you just had to push him away. Even a coward like Murakami can at least say 'hi' and act all cute to her love interests. What makes it so hard for you? You've liked him all this time.'

But a weaker, softer side of her whispered in her head, and she felt searing pain in her chest.

'But, but...I didn't, I didn't know he would be so...angry. Can't he tell that I am in love with him?'

She thought she was being painfully obvious, but she noticed that only a very close observer would notice her being in love.

She always imagined the perfect scene in which everything magically falls into place, but the more she experiences this thing called 'love,' she learned that she was the one falling apart.

Her shyness, her failure to talk to her crush properly, and her inability to trust anyone who is a girl around her age made her extraordinarily dislikable to even the sunshiny Waker of Light, the Sun deity whose energy reminds her of fresh groves of oranges in summer.

She remembered hoping that he would just laugh it out and just be his usual, warm, charming self to the socially awkward girl, maybe feel bad for her and ask Uchiha sama if he knows her. And then maybe they could all go for the dango. And maybe she can make a bento box for thanking him for the treat and leave it in his office with a letter,misted with something sweet scented.

But her social awkwardness must have been such a huge put off that it even repulsed the Uzumaki. She doubted that she'll ever feel this worthless again in her life. It was a given that he'll never speak to her again.

She can never forget the last look he deigned himself to throw at her, the last chance to redeem herself, " _Anyone_ _up for Konohan dango?"_

When she was unable to take his hand, he gave her the clearest message of scorn anyone can send without saying a word.

The shrug of his shoulder and the brief laugh that his lips exhaled in frustration as he turned and threw his left hand up...They all gave her his clear message: _Fine then. Whatever._

And the sight of his retreating back was enough to make it hard for her to breath steadily: _You don't mean anything to me._

Her mind kept whispering over and over what felt like her angel sama's final good-bye, _You don't mean anything to me. Whether you cry for me or miss me, that has nothing to do with me._

She bowed her head, her black hair falling like silk as her eyes unleashed another torrent of steady tears.

'But Angel-sama, if you knew how much my heart is hurting right now, would you still be this cruel to me? But then maybe you would... because I mean nothing to you.'

* * *

Even though they were walking in the same direction, the Second felt as if they were separated by miles apart-him and the girl he was dragging along by the hand.

He never thought he had to resort to physical force to Hyuuga, but here he was, applying pressure on the small hand as he felt her dragging her feet along him.

Whenever she tried to pause, he knew that she was looking back, foolishly hoping that the Uzumaki would show up any second, saying something dumb like "Just kidding! Let's get some ramen!" He didn't need to turn his head to see, to know what she was hoping for.

The slight twist of her hand in his grasp told him volumes that it was not his attention she was seeking.

But all he could do was hide the growing sourness in his heart and tug on her forcefully as if she's a rag doll.

She gasped "Ah!" as the sheer force almost made her trip over one of the giant roots that came to surface by the landslide.

But he prevented her fall by holding her hand up, and as soon as they were back on track he apologetically eased the tight grip on her hand.

He knew that it was not her fault for falling in love with the dobe. In a way, he understood why. Her being so shy and unconfident, the loud and boisterous idiot who always manages to see the silver lining in everything must have been a breath of fresh air and an enigma she can't understand but longs to explore.

Uchiha has absolutely no fantasies about his personality-he is cold, distant, testy, and inconsiderate, and his nonexistent humor toys with the threshold of sarcasm and morbidity. Not to even mention his fervent animosity of anything human, warm, or bright. He knew that if he met another like himself, he wouldn't hesitate to chidori his smart mouth before getting himself an earful.

'A silver lining. Breath of fresh air. Hope for tomorrow.' he smiled bitterly. But there was no way for him to give her those things, when he has yet to complete his revenge.

As they got closer to the creek in the deep mountain forest, her sniffling abated, but he didn't want to see her red rimmed, pale silver eyes and her sullen face. Now that she knew she was in his private territory, she gave up her hope that Uzumaki might be somewhere close.

He turned and began walking where the stream went uphill. She obediently followed. The sound of the stream flowing calmed her and she has always loved the pristine, clean scent of trees in the mountains. A blue jay perched on the pine branch, and the branch bounced at its weight.

When he stopped still, she had to move slightly to the left to see where the tall, broad-shouldered Second Waker has brought her.

What she saw was so beautiful that it felt like a dream. They were standing in front of a giant waterhole of the purest turquoise color, enveloped by steamy mist and surrounded by trees and giant grey rocks. In the center was a cascading waterfall, but it wasn't like any she has seen before. The way the thin stream of water descended from the high altitude reminded her of a diaphanous bridal veil, with its half-mist state and entrancing, undulating movements.

The trees growing by the pond displayed their bright green foliage despite the fact that it was still early spring. The dark grey boulders that serenaded the turquoise waterhole had beautiful, swirling patterns that she longed to graze her fingers with.

When she looked above, she saw that the sky was silver grey, framed by dark canopies of pines.

He turned and looked down at the Hyuuga who stared at the lush lichen and moss gracing the rocks by the crystalline pool.

He felt a odd sense of pride, seeing her in the middle of his secretive training ground where even the Akatsukis can't come.

Totally bewitched by the scenery, she walked up to the pool and stood on one of the relatively smaller sized rocks.

Peering down at the water, which looked milky at a closer look, she opened her mouth, "Waker sama."

She continued, "I...I thought that as long as I come back, I just needed to walk straight." She bit her poor lip, "But today proved...that was not true."

She stared down at her reflection. For the first time since she came back, she looked at herself unflinchingly, straight in the eye.

The wind blew, playing with her wispy black hair, as she did some blatant self-evaluation "I might have changed a little. I've grown. My skills improved, but Haruno is right. I'm a hindrance. I am the biggest hindrance to myself."

A tear fell, leaving a ripple effect that heightened the exquisite, placid beauty of the waterhole. Her voice quivered, "Why am I like this. Un-unable to say what's in my mind or heart to anybody."

Her question left a hole in his chest as he felt her voice disintegrating by the wind, "Maybe some part of me is broken beyond repair?"

For a moment, he stared at her slender back. She was too small and fragile, and she didn't deserve to hate herself like this.

He clenched his fist, "I can't give you what you want. But I can give you what you _need._ "

When her large, wet eyes looked back at him, he ended up not saying anything. It was more of a statement he was saying to himself than her anyways.

Her lips trembled, "What is it?"

He held her undivided interest. At least for this moment, she was not thinking about Uzumaki. She was not thinking about Haruno or her bullies. She was looking at him and him only.

Her every breath and glance was focused on him. He felt a chill run down on his spine as he approached her.

If Uchiha was anything else, he was power, pure manifestation of power itself. All his life, he worked for it, and here he was, perennially shackled to a tiresome throne that still remembered his brother's warmth as he tries to finalize his revenge—this time, for Itachi.

That was why he agreed to continuing the tradition of the Waker's Pearl. He needed someone to hold Uzumaki back when he starts 'finalizing' his revenge.

What he wanted was a simple ploy for his plans to destroy Konoha, but he got so much more than what he bargained for.

In a lot of ways, they are so alike. She craves control over her destiny and is willing to change for revenge. What better person is there to share his hearth? He can literally see himself in her. She was his mirror.

As he approached her, she stared down at him as she stood on a rock by the stream. The fact that she had to stand on a pretty sizable rock in order to look down at him slightly reminded him how tiny she still was.

Lifting his hand, he touched the side of her face. Her face immediately turned tomato red, but she didn't flinch from his touch. His fingers turned slightly, and the knuckle of his index finger sensuously grazed her soft cheek.

He whispered, "Use me, Hyuuga."

He continued, not taking his eyes from her furiously blushing face, her huge eyes and shivering lips, "You'll win as long as you take me. So use me."

Her lips quivered as she lifted her two slender hands and lovingly held his hand that was cradling her face, "But...but, Waker sama...How dare I...After all you've done for me, I can't-"

Hyuuga might no longer be the innocent sweet-hearted thirteen year old who died in the cliff. But she at least had conscience. And she admired and cared for him too much that the thought of using him as a tool for her revenge made her cringe no matter how many times she envisioned herself as being the Second Waker's Pearl, the most powerful and envied woman in the Realm.

How many times did she want her freedom from her fears.

But Uchiha persisted, "You want to get back at Haruno and the others. For making you run just so you can survive the next day. And then they go on and try to kill you as soon as you come back."

Anger pooled in her milky white eyes. What they did was already unforgivable. But seeing them in the Palace and how they treated her showed their complete lack of remorse. She should've known that they would be so remorseless in the face of the return of the friend they thought was 'dead.'

His dark, lipid eyes bore deeply into her white ones, "Your revenge has to be your priority. Everything else comes next."

At first, she stared at him with wide, dilated pupils. Then with her hands gluing his hand to her face, she vigorously nodded. "Yes, revenge comes first. My feelings come next!"

He inwardly smiled at how quickly she was devouring what he was giving her. As he thought, they were so much alike. "I'm going to teach you a special technique, Hyuuga."

Her ears perked, and she saw the satisfied glint in his eyes when he noticed her sudden interest in what he has got to say.

The suddenly,

 _(splash!)_

Emerging from the milky turquoise water, Hyuuga breathed out, "Puhaa!"

She drew out her flattened, black hair from her face like curtains and stared up at him in disbelief, "Uchiha sama...you...pushed me?"

It was more of the unexpectedness of his action that shocked her. Her element is water, so of course she has no fear of deep water, and she can float and swim easily, due to her training under Ko in the mountains. But she didn't expect Uchiha to suddenly push her into the water.

It felt so jarring that she can't stop gaping at him like a fish. 'Such a prankish thing, after such a serious conversation!'

He crossed his arms nonchalantly as he stared down at her with his characteristically arrogant and slightly bored expression, "This is part of the training. Why else would I've brought you here?"

She still was staring up at him with her mouth agape, "O...Okay? We-well, you-you should come in here too!"

He turned from her, "Hnn, why should I?"

"Be-because you said we're training!"

He fixed his stony gaze at his wet wide-eyed pupil, "No."

She never knew he would be so wayward. "Why-why not?"

He closed his eyes and at that moment Hyuuga thought that he was going to relent. Instead, all she heard was his stoic reply, "I'm in my new uniform. I refuse to get it ruined."

She stared at him incredulously as her mouth opened and shut several times. For years, she has secretly wondered if the grim, brooding Second Waker's wardrobe consisted of lines of the same dark brown suede boots and lines of the same black uniform, top and bottom.

She often imagined how his day would look like. When he wakes up, he showers and opens his wardrobe and fishes out the same black uniform out of the many black uniforms he possesses. She is pretty sure that is how it goes.

And now he's telling her he doesn't want to ruin his 'new' uniform.

She balked, "I-I've just came here, Waker sama!" Common logic dictates that no-one should look like a drowned puppy in their first day of school.

But he can be amazingly stubborn and snarky when least expected. As he clenched his jaw, he said pointedly "There is a huge difference between us in social stations. As the Realm's Second, I refuse to be at your level."

She narrowed her eye in thinly veiled disapproval, but the arrogant, handsome man remained undeterred by her pout.

If she squinted her eyes maybe, she can trace the odd amusement of the impassive, arrogant man, but that surly must just be her imagination.

Purposefully ignoring her scrutiny, he whipped out his katana, his famed Kusanagi from his sheathe and sliced one of the nearby boulders. The halved boulder toppled into the water hole, causing the entire surface to undulate. The rapid wave engulfed Hyuuga, and when it passed, her black hair plastered all over her face again.

He ordered, "You're going to practice how to use your Taijutsu without relying too much on your kekkai Genkai. Training under water builds your core strength because of the amplified pressure and sensitivizes you to the chakra current that you can miss if you rely too much on the physical form of your enemy."

He brandished his katana and surveyed the surrounding trees and boulders, "I will be using these to teach you how to deflect your enemies' attack and use their waste energy to your advantage. It's your responsibility to not get hit."

"So...even if I get squashed underneath, it's my responsibility."

"Correct."

Behind her black hair, she kept glaring at him in the most antagonistic way possible, but seeing him unperturbed, she sighed and waded back into the water like a water snake.

It took only a week of training for the Second Waker to upgrade from boulders to kunais, and a month after that, the bottom of the waterhole was littered with swords like one of the graveyards in battle.

A silvery fish with dark navy stripes weaved through the littered sword hilts

* * *

Still healing from Hyuuga's accidental attack, Zetsu had his arm wrapped up while he was writing his reports on whether he has witnessed any form of bullying among the candidates.

As he wrote about a conflict that caused a student to be isolated in Hidan's class, he kept thinking about the little indigo blue haired girl with the hime hair cut.

It was Uchiha's new instruction for Zetsu to record any incidents that show any kind of abuse that puts a certain individual at advantage. Before he found out that he spared Hyuuga's life and probably hid her somewhere, he thought he was merely doing it to avoid any unnecessary loss of candidates and internal division among the girls.

It is impossible to imagine the Uchiha feeling guilt over a single girl's death. That was the only explanation the Akatsukis came up with, that is, until Hyuuga came back.

Zetsu's particular physique gave him ample opportunity to eavesdrop any of the girls' 'so-called' pranks that range from hiding spreading rumors, hiding the bullied girl's homework, to carving profanities on her desk or locker with a kunai.

As he went through these reports, he can't help thinking, 'Little poo had went through so much.' He gritted his teeth as he swallowed in the lump in his throat, 'but I wasn't able to do anything helpful.'

One time, he did stand up to Hyuuga, but his tactlessness made the situation even more disastrous.

It was Hidan's P.E. class and when Hyuuga was crying. Hidan thought she was crying because she was unhappy with the style of his teaching. But when he forced the answer out of her with threatening gesticulations, she shakenly said that she is crying because she has no friends to exercise her Justus with. The class all laughed and Hidan yelled at them to quiet and White Zetsu asked if anyone is her friend and she should stand up. They all laughed, except Haruno who turned pale. At that time, the Black Zetsu got really mad, calling them sociopaths. Not wanting the tension to escalate, the class president Haruno was forced to stand up, and the other girls pitied her vocally, _Poor Haruno, she is too nice. I would hate to be in her shoes right now._

Just the memory made both Zetsus flinch in guilt, and ever since, he thought acting as if everything was fine was the best thing.

But in fact, he was ignoring her pain just like the others. The guilt ate at him but he tried to compensate by spending time with the lonely girl, and she would beam and smile thankfully.

The weak, naive, and tearful Hyuuga didn't deserve what she had experienced under his care.

 _knock-knock-knock_

He impatiently replied, "Come in." Probably some annoying student who wanted to turn her B into an A-.

Seeing the face that peeked behind the door, he stood up, "Little poo!"

She bowed her head slightly and when she looked up, she saw the nervous, uneasy look on the White Zetsu's face, "Zetsu sensei."

Soon they were sitting down, each holding a cup of tea, him curling up and winding around his hammock, her in his nearly brand new sofa.

Her pensive pale eyes flitted across his bandaged arm, "Sensei, your arm..."

"Ung?" he looked down his arm as if he just noticed he was cut, "Oh, don't worry about this, little-I mean, Hyuuga! It doesn't hurt anymore!"

She closed her eyes as in pain, "Konan sensei told me you've been feverish and ill for days since the 'accident.'"

He continued talking, "The reason I got all sick after getting cut by your attack was...you managed to detangle and disturb my chakra flow system. Your attack has the power to turn your opponent's chakra system against themselves, like those poison that Kabuto made utilizing his knowledge of the immune system and vaccines."

He actually meant it as a compliment, but he saw the pain in Hyuuga's pale eyes. She was sad and hurt for him. Such an undeserving, sorry excuse of a teacher he was.

Bowering her head lower, she tried to apologize, "I'm-"

"No, I'm sorry, little poo!" he rose half way from his swaying hammock, "I...I deserve it for being a bad teacher. I...tried to search your corpse when I heard the 'news.' I'm-I'm just glad that you're okay."

His strange olive green, hazel eyes scanned her. She's more than just 'okay.' Seeing her progress, he can actually imagine her being in the last ten of the Select candidates. She had a good chance.

But that was what Hyuuga might have to rely on. A good chance.

At his words, the girl, whose looks and aura remind him of a certain flower that grows in mountain ice, made a familiar bright smile.

Somehow, that warm smile made him remember the ten year old whom he had affectionately called 'Little poo,' and he choked in his attempt to contain some brimming emotion.

He is culpable for little poo's death. He wasn't worthy to even be seeing the beautiful, powerful swan she has become.

Tears stinging in his eyes, he resolutely turned his back on her as he twisted in his hammock like a garden snake around a vine.

"Zetsu sensei," her soft, feathery voice called to him, "I came back to have my revenge."

His shoulders slightly flinched, but the tense way his body curled around told her he was listening to what she has in store.

Behind him, she calmly announced, "I want to take what they want."

Her serpentine teacher twisted his neck and peered at her with a raised eyebrow.

"I want to be Uchiha sama's Waker's Pearl."

The weight of her statement tumbled him down from the hammock and ungracefully land on the polished linoleum floor. He stared up at her, his black and white figures morphed into one in shock.

She was not just asking for good luck. This runt of a girl was asking for a miracle. 'Bringing back the humanity of Kabuto's sick, humanoid avatars' scale of miracle.

The desperate look in her pale face belied the calm, low intonation of her voice, "Help me."

Zetsu stared at her, and then he cleared his throat and rose to his full height.

"Little poo," he sighed, "You don't know what you're asking for."

He scratched the back of his head as he sat in front of Hyuuga on another sofa.

"Hyuuga, while you've been gone, so many changes happened to the rules of the Waker's Pearl. You've heard of the war going on, right?"

She nodded. Satisfied, he continued, "The Novo Orochimaru forces are trying to overthrow the Wakers, especially the Second, and they're doing everything to unsettle them and take their lives as trophies for their renewed power over the Realm."

After a moment of deliberation, he continued, "We thought that the enemies will at least limit the strife to the Realm, but we were wrong. They've reached out to the alternative dimensions, including where you and the girls used to live, what you know as the 'mortal world.'"

Her eyes widened, her voice horrified, "But what are they planning to do in the mortal world?"

He sighed, "Because in 'the mortal world,' lies the reason Uzumaki decided to be the Waker. His hometown, Konoha. Konoha is also Uchiha's hometown."

She was surprised by this unexpected information, "So both Uzumaki and Uchiha sama knew each other before being Wakers?"

'But Uchiha sama never even mentioned it to me. True, I didn't ask, but...' she frowned, somehow feeling a little betrayed.

She looked at Zetsu, "It seems that Uzumaki and Uchiha sama both share a deep personal history, sensei."

Zetsu glanced sideways, "Yeah..." He looked as if he would rather avoid the subject of the two Wakers' past history and relationship.

Hyuuga pondered over the hasty, droning manner in which Zetsu rushed through the last piece of information. 'I wonder why Zetsu sensei looks so uncomfortable telling me that Uzumaki and Uchiha sama share the same hometown. It's certainly not the worst thing he can tell me. After all, we're talking about the insurrection against the Wakers.'

Zetsu then exploded the news that all the candidates, except Hyuuga, already know, "They're planning to invade Konoha and take the villagers' lives as ransom to upset the First and the Second."

She almost stood up in horror and anger, "How dare they...Using their love for their hometown that they left behind...That's so low of them."

Zetsu pondered, 'Love, huh...Well, Uzumaki definitely loves his hometown. That is why he became the Waker so he can protect the village. Uchiha...different story. But Hyuuga doesn't need to know that anyways. I hate to say this, but it is highly unlikely that she can go to the final round, let alone beating Haruno. She just can't be the Second Waker's Pearl. It's impossible. If anyone _has_ to know about Uchiha and Uzumaki's dirty little secret, it is going to be either Karin or Haruno.'

He continued divulging to her what happened during those three years of her absence. "So of course, sending the defeated girls, the 48 of them who didn't make it, to the Realm is dangerous. Both to the girls and the Wakers. They know too much."

Hyuuga lowered her eyes to the ground, "I thought...that all those failed candidates have to have their memories erased."

She continued, "but if they lose their memories, they will also forget their skills to fight. That'll put them in grave danger if the Novo Orochimaru forces kidnap them in the mortal world."

Zetsu nodded, "Uchiha might be a cold-hearted bastard, but he hates the idea of his enemies take advantage of the girls who wanted to serve him. So the Wakers decided to keep the girls in the Realm instead of sending them back."

"What will they do in the Realm?" she asked.

"They'll either be civilians or...if they want, they can remain in the Palace, but as palace guards or hand maids."

A heavy silence fell between them. Her delicate eyebrows knitted together as she asked, "Zetsu sensei, but why would any of the defeated candidates want to still be in the Palace?"

She just couldn't understand. For example, if she fails to be the Waker's Pearl, she would hate to remain in the Palace. She would hate seeing Haruno or Karin by the side of the Wakers, so she can't imagine what it would be like to serve them as their lowly handmaiden and guard.

Every part of the Palace, from the Akatsukis' classrooms to the gardens where she spent time, would remind her of her inability to make it. And she knew she would rather swallow arsenic than be served another fresh batch of humiliation at the hands of Haruno or Karin.

"Why would anyone subject herself to that?"

His answer was surprisingly straightforward, "So they can have another chance to win the Wakers' hearts."

At his words, a revelation came to her and her face blushed, a bright cherry red hue on her cheeks. No matter how sheltered she was, she understood that many girls want to be more than 'students' to the two Wakers.

It was not a secret at all that the handmaidens working in the Palace all are in their own kind of "Waker's Pearl Game." However, their end goal is not to be the Waker's Pearl, it is to land in the Wakers' bed chamber and conceive heirs.

Seeing the look of shock on her face, Zetsu sighed and explained, "Hyuuga, being a powerful man's mistress is a lot of girls' dream. And as you know, all of the fifty contestants, they are all socially acceptably beautiful and strong. It is not far fetched for them to hope that they could catch either of the Waker's eyes and be elevated to the status of the Wakers' wives."

"But," she still couldn't quite get how easily some people can change their life-long aspirations, and it took them all six years!

She uneasily touched her tea cup, "I thought we all wanted to be Waker's Pearls...the Wakers' advisors and knights. How can they just change their goals into being their mistresses?"

Zetsu shook his head at her naivety and foolish idealism, "Hyuuga, do you think that all these girls just wanted to be mere loyal subordinates like the Akatsukis? They wanted the hearts of the most powerful men that they know. They know that they can never be satisfied with being a mere mortal's wife, no matter how powerful or wealthy he will be. Nobody can compare to the First and Second Wakers, in anything."

Then he hummed and hesitated before blurting out, "Hyuuga, honestly...you don't have a strong chance in being the Waker's Pearl. You're skilled, yes. And you're smart, but that is the same for many of the candidates who've trained and absorbed knowledge in the Palace for three years. Maybe...you should just aim to be Uchiha's woman. That way-"

But she abruptly rose, effectively cutting him off in mid sentence.

When he lifted his gaze to hers, he froze as she looked down at him with icy pale silver eyes that brought chill to his amorphous bones.

Her soft voice lanced at his chest as she spoke, "I thought I could come to you for help, but I guess I was deeply wrong, sensei."

She turned slightly, lowering her head so the black silky curtain of her hair can conceal her profile,

"I told you that I came back for revenge.

The only thing that kept me going was the dream of coming back and showing everyone what I was capable of. So I can give them the taste of their own medicine. Making them feel as powerless as I've felt under their feet."

Her voice steadily rose as she spoke each part emphatically, "But now you're telling me that I should give up before trying, give up everything I've worked for, and instead use my 'womanly wiles' against the one man who was my true master, teacher, and friend."

It was not his doubt that she can succeed that angered her. She knew that it was natural for the Akasukis and the candidates to doubt her and be biased towards the girls they've been with for consecutive six years. She expected it.

But to even insinuate that she should ensnare him like some cuckolded fool and cheapen their beautiful platonic relationship. She hated herself for once thinking that Zetsu was genuine and trustworthy.

She gritted her teeth as she pinned him to the spot with her icy byakugan. The way Hyuuga, who he suspected as being weak hearted, looked down at him, daring him to insult Uchiha and her again. He could never get over seeing such a phenomenal transformation of such dainty looking girl.

She was about to turn back and leave his office in a huff, but then Zetsu cried, "Wait!"

He steadied himself on his feet because he had to calm his nerves after being stared down by such antagonistic white eyes, "I made a mistake, Hyuuga. I didn't mean to insult you. Now I know for sure. If anyone deserves to be the Second Waker's Pearl, it's you."

Her lavender pupils widened in surprise, "Ze..Zetsu sensei." But she still looked wary. She knew better than to easily give her trust and bite the bait. She's tired of having her trust betrayed.

"I'll help you as much as I can. I'll give you all the information you missed out on during the past three years. It should help you to get to the semi-final, but,' he gave her a warning look, 'after that, it's all on you."

At his words, she fully turned to him and faced him. And she nodded her head and bowed, an impeccable gesture showing deep respect and gratitude. She was still angry at Zetsu for his suggestion, but she didn't want to miss out on his offer to be her own resource.

"That's all I ask for, sensei. Thank you."

Zetsu's face widened in a strange, breathless looking grin as he watched her leave his office.

He knew, 'She has what neither Karin nor Haruno has. That's knowing how to put a rein or a whip to her personal feelings. She doesn't have 'infatuation.' She has 'loyalty' like a true soldier. She'll be an invaluable asset to the team. I hope she makes it.'

* * *

The purple haired female Akasuki was walking down the stone arcaded hallway that reminded passerby of an archaic, Medieval monastery tucked in ferns and blasted heathes. So serene and tranquil was the atmosphere that the sound of her Oxford style heels echoed in the air.

"Konan,"

She looked back, seeing who was the one to disrupt her peace. Blond bangs concealing one kohl lined eyes, tall, and on a slim side. It was Deidara.

He went straight to his point, "Why did you agree to reinstating the Hyuuga? You know how the other candidates feel, seeing an estranged girl suddenly joining the race that they've worked for six years? It's not like you. You're the most professional of all of us."

She tucked a strand of purple hair behind her ear.

"Deidara san, it is very unlike you to show curiosity in the matters of the candidates."

But Konan decided to satisfy his unusual curiosity anyways. No matter what a drama queen and histrionic he is, Deidara is one of the proud Akatsukis.

"I gave her a chance to fight for the Waker's Pearl position, in hopes that she can mediate the contentious relationship between the two Waker samas."

When he looked puzzled, she elaborated, "Both Haruno and Karin are too emotionally inclined toward Uchiha sama who is still bent on destroying Konoha even after all these years.

With the two Wakers, balance means everything. But right now the question of 'Konoha' is making the two Wakers fight like dogs and cats."

Deidara's brow wrinkle smoothed out in understanding, "and the majority of the candidates being in love with the Second, is not helping the matter."

She nodded and continued, "If the Hyuuga can distract any of them from the thought of 'Konoha,' then maybe the Wakers can get along just fine. It would be better if she can persuade Uchiha sama into surrendering his life long mission but that is unlikely to happen. Also, I have the feeling that the one she fancies..."

Deidara pretended to not be so interested, but his ears were all perked up. He actually loves gossip. And he is getting more and more interested in the Hyuuga.

It kind of excites him to see what she is capable of. But he wasn't prepared for the bomb Konan threw at his face.

"I have the feeling that the one Hyuuga loves is the Sun Waker-Uzumaki sama."

He balked, his mouth wide enough to look ludicrous, "Ehh?! Wasn't she the Second's child lover or something?"

She shook her head, not quite approving of Deidara's choice of words. "That's what a lot of the Akatsukis are guessing at, but I am of a different opinion, Deidara san."

He crossed his arms and eyed her skeptically, "What makes you so confident?"

"Women's intuition, Deidara san."

He looked at her with awe and surprise at first, and then he scratched the back of his head, "I don't care as much as Uzumaki sama whether Uchiha sama destroys Konoha or not. All I care about is the well being of both Wakers. You know how neither of them can channel their full power if any of them dies. That would screw us all up."

Konan nodded, "The moon can only radiate light if it reflects the sun. And the sun would be a self-destructive force without the moon's gravity. So are the two Wakers. If any of them falls, both would perish. The Waker's Pearls are there to stop such case, even at the cost of their lives. I only hope we don't end up with Karin and Haruno as the two Waker's Pearls. That is not the ideal example of equilibrium, Deidara san."

* * *

"Kyaahhhh! Uzumaki sama, we love you!"

"Can you please give me a hug, Uzumaki sama!"

"No, give me a hug! Your hugs can help me pass my test!"

"Uzumaki sama!"

Uzumaki was running from a throng of _his_ rabid fan girls, and as he hid under the eaves of his rooftop, he quickly blew smoke into his two fingers and and poof- sexy cutsie jutsu.

After that, like a ninja cat, he smoothly landed on the cobble stone paved path and blew a whistle at the girls who were looking everywhere for their tall sun god.

As expected, the girls all gave her a weird look and breezed past the blond, tan girl who waved at them with a foxy smile. This trick never gets old. They can never suspect the blond vixen to be their idol.

As he often goes undercover in his whimsical disguise, he was completely at ease as he started looking around the campus courtyard, but then something caught his eye.

Far in the dark, shadowed corner, surrounded by bamboos, a group of girls were surrounding in a circle.

Uzumaki thought, 'A perfect place to do something shady. Are they smoking or something?"

He can physically feel a strong, off putting tension radiating like a dark cloud.

He thought, 'Yeah, probably smoking. I gotta be the big brother, or in this case, big sis, and step in. The semi final is coming soon. It's not good for them.'

When he approached the corner, what he saw was far worse than what he expected.

"You think you can just butt in and take Uchiha sama away from us, but you're nothing but a cheap skank!"

The inner male Uzumaki quailed at the sharp, toxic energy but he couldn't contain his curiosity of the catfight, 'Oh...another useless squabble between the ladies."

"Why don't you just attack us the way you did Zetsu, Hyuuga?"

He almost tripped back as he hastily covered his mouth, 'Hyuuga?'

At a closer look, he can see a group of four girls, all taller and more physically imposing than the girl in the middle, Hyuuga. But Hyuuga still managed to keep a cold exterior as she fixed her gaze stubbornly to the ground.

A girl, who Uzumaki recognizes as Uchiha's avid fan girl Fumiwara, tauntingly poked at the side of Hyuuga's temple, "Are you going to go and rat us out to Uchiha sama? I bet you will."

Fumiwara pushed Hyuuga's temple to the side with her index finger three times, and Hyuuga jerked to the side every time, her pale eyes squinting in pain and barely suppressed annoyance.

Another girl yelled at her face, "Go ahead, Hyuuga! That way, you'll be even more ostracized by everyone. Nobody likes a coward."

Then one of the girls, (Inner male Uzumaki thought, 'Wait, wasn't she one of the girls who chased me a second ago?), lifted her sharp, well polished kana to Hyuuga's face, "You have no reason to act as if you're above it. Maybe I should cut off that pretty hair you have."

"No, Ito, gouge her eyes that she's so proud of. Let's see how she'll react-"

That is when Uzumaki Narumi, self-proclaimed prophetess of sexy, stepped in, "That's it!"

All of the girls who were attacking Hyuuga snapped their eyes toward the blond, tan girl who suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Hyuuga, who was in the center, lifted her eyes slightly and her eyes almost popped out in surprise as she saw her unexpected advocate and heroine.

Then Seto, a student who he suspects as being a psychopath, smirked and fully turned to her. When Uzumaki saw what was in Seto's hand, his triumphant, confident, beaming smile dropped.

Scissors...That girl was holding a silver bladed sharp pair of scissors.

Uzumaki's sun-kissed sexy complexion showed intense fear as he took a step back, thinking 'Hell, no! First Waker or not, I'm not dealing with this shit. THEY'RE CRAZY!"

Looking like a true horror story, the girls shifted their attention from Hyuuga to Uzumaki, approaching the latter with a homicidal smile on their faces and scissors in their hands.

Takahashi lifted her scissors near Uzumaki's slender, honey beige throat, cooing "Aww, look at that pretty blond hair. It has dead-ends! Let me cut it for you~"

At her words, he innocently widened his eyes with sapphire blue flecks and playfully ilted his head, "Aww, you're going to do that for me, how sweet of you! I always thought I could use a trim."

Then his blue eyes narrowed, "But..."

When Takahashi's arm shoot forward against her throat, Uzumaki ducked the sharp, lethal blow with a light side-step and knocked her out by kicking the back of her shins.

"Kya!"

Then he sat on Takahashi's back on the ground, twisting her arm just enough so she can drop her scissors.

The scissor's sharp tip punctured a hole into the hard soil, barely grazing Takahashi's shapely nose.

Uzumaki then released her arm and jumped back tauntingly out of reach, when Takahashi swiveled up with her legs rotating, attempting to her on her head.

Her red face smeared with dirt and hair in ruins, Takahashi screamed, "You, bitch!"

Hyuuga was not the only one to be amazed by the mystery girl's playful, yet efficient style of self-defense. The blond girl had something that not even Haruno has-a well-rounded flexibility and mischievous, yet practiced daring that adds simplicity and breath-taking edginess to her attack.

Even though Hyuuga was strictly into men, Uzumaki sama, she can't help but think that the girl looked incredibly sexy, in an androgynous way.

'I'm getting jealous again. It's not fair to look pretty while fighting.' she groaned, remembering how her face becomes embarrassingly red when she is in the heat of battle, 'If dealing with Haruno and Karin isn't enough, now I have to deal with _this_."

If Haruno was a bull, mystery girl was a monkey with twice the brains and physical strength as any of the candidates.

When Hyuuga glanced at her bullies, she can tell that they were also shaken to the roots by this mystery girl. Someone who might very possibly be superior to Haruno was right in front of their eyes.

"Takahashi, wait!" Fumiwara grabbed her by the arm, "It's four of us, and it's two of them. Let's just go."

"But that bitch-!"

Seto glowered at Hyuuga and kept spewing toxic words as if she's invisible, "We have the semi finals left. Then we can show them what they're worth."

Takahashi relented, "Ugh, fine..."

When the four girls left, Takahashi didn't forget to shove Hyuuga on the shoulder.

Uzumaki wasn't the one to just stay back when a bully just goes on, treating victims like that, "Hey!"

But the girls guffawed, saying "Hey, did you hear that? She just said, 'hey!" "Heeeyyy~" "Well too bad, cause I don't feel like saying 'hi'"

Then they finally left Hyuuga and Yuzumaki alone.

Uzumaki gritted his teeth. He has never been treated like this before by girls, but he can definitely say one thing: it sucks.

He then marched straight to the Hyuuga who was busy dusting off the dirt from her training uniform without saying a word.

He placed his hands on his hips, "Hey!" He has to remind himself that his body language has to look like a girl's.

Hyuuga's eyes snapped open in undisguised surprise, "Yeah-yeah?"

"I deserve some love too, you know!"

Hyuuga stammered, her pale pupils dilating in surprise by mystery girl's unexpected words, "O-okay. Th-thanks." She still can't believe that she got saved by the very same girl who she almost stabbed in the face, slapped away on the back of her hand, and purposefully ignored. She was starting to feel guilty for doing all those things to her.

But nothing can dwarf the shock she felt when Uzumaki said, "And don't just stand there when they're threatening your life! You're strong enough, Hyuuga!"

For a moment, Hyuuga just stared at the pretty girl with a loud mouth.

'She...reminds me more and more of Haruno.' she smiled bitterly. 'Strong, pretty, and not knowing where pity should end.'

Hyuuga stepped out of the shadowed corner and into the broad daylight. Uzumaki followed, yelping and nagging about how she shouldn't let those b-words take advantage of her.

Not wanting to keep being reminded of a certain pink hair, Hyuuga changed the subject, "I've never seen you in classes or the training grounds."

Interlacing his slender fingers behind the back of his head, Uzumaki yawned ungracefully, "Nope, not interested."

Hyuuga's brows shot up, "The Battle Royale is just twenty days away. You should be training."

He shook his head, his long, luscious blond hair fluttering in the air, smelling like vanilla "Nope! I never wanted to be a Waker's Pearl or whatever. It's just a glorified body guard, essentially. Why would you spend six years wanting to be that?"

Hyuuga cannot help her exclamation from coming out of her mouth, "Eh? Bu-but, you're so..." She wanted to say "strong," but for some reason, the thought of complimenting the blond beauty made her feel smaller.

Then, Uzumaki crossed his spidery arms and flashed a sneaky smile that made Hyuuga feel nervous, "You know what I want to be though?"

When Hyuuga nervously scanned her smiling face, the inner male Uzumaki cannot help but think 'Gah, she's so cute. It makes me want to tease her. It's almost worth her slighting me when I'm myself. Well, almost.'

In his usual levity, he put his long arm around Hyuuga's shoulder and smirked, "I'm going to be the First Waker's kept girl!"

At her words, Hyuuga's brows knitted against each other in confusion, "Kept...girl? What is that?"

"Mistress."

Then he approached Hyuuga's ear and whispered in a low, raspy voice that sounded _very, very_ masculine.

His warm breath tickled the shell of her reddened ear as he seductively whispered out the last definite double-syllable, "Girlfriend."

When the mystery girl finally released her shoulders, Hyuuga felt like melting to the floor, her heart palpitating like crazy as she clasped her undoubtedly red ear.

Leaving behind a trembling, blushing Hyuuga, Uzumaki triumphantly twirled pirouettes before striking a pose, balancing himself with one hand on the ground, his lean, long legs making a letter 'P' shape in the air.

"Uzumaki sama is so hot. Way much hotter than the Uchiha. I bet he has a bigger package too. I cant wait for him to be my baby daddy."

Secretly, the First Waker has a fondness for trashy chick flick movies. Of course, Hyuuga had no way of knowing.

While she still gawked at his words, Uzumaki was still striking the strange pose that Hyuuga has never seen in her life. She wondered, 'is it a jutsu or some dance move? how can she balance herself so well?'

He grinned like an imp. His upside down face, his bangs falling to the ground, displaying his handsome, bare forehead, started looking dangerously familiar to Hyuuga, but she can't point out where she saw that face.

Seeing the normally composed Hyuuga so rattled and red was totally worth it, in his head.

The inner male Uzumaki decided to push it a bit more. He leaped to his female sandel-clad feet, standing on the ground.

"Then I am going to be his wifu, and then I am going to carry his most beautiful blond haired babies and live in luxury."

After that, he stretched out his two hands to Hyuuga's face. The pale-eyed girl flinched but kept staring wide-eyed.

"Six of them. And I will lie on bed, eating pon pons while you slave next to ego brat."

The way she trembled, blushing profusely, made him almost want to show her his true form and laugh at her face, 'Yeah, all those trashy reality shows do reflect reality. Look at her. She's so pissed! That's what you get for snubbing on the hottest guy in the planet!'

'But, man,' Uzumaki unconsciously pressed his 'girl chest' with both hands as he stared at Hyuuga like a love-struck idiot, 'she's so endearing when she's flustered. Yeah, she's super shallow, getting all riled up and jealous, even though she's not interested in 'me-me,' but she's so, so cute when she looks like that.'

However, he then quickly realized the dangerous consequences of succumbing to the bizarre Hyuuga,

her pride that borders on making her 'anti-social' and a certain teme's perfect soulmate

her materialistic shallowness that wants nothing to do with the 'real' Uzumaki, except for his social position and the wealth that he can offer,

and her physically and emotionally violent attitude against her same-sex peers.

Hyuuga was objectively an awful person, but he was falling for her-fast.

When he realized the sand-devil fluidity with which he was surrendering to the emo mean-girl, he screamed in his head, 'no no no no, I'm not some sick masochist.'

Clearing his throat that didn't have an Adam's apple, Uzumaki abruptly turned away from Hyuuga and shrugged his shoulders, "Too bad that you don't have any sex appeal. You are totally not his type."

His cold blue irises glanced back at Hyuuga who was a few feet behind, "You will be a decent Waker's Pearl though because he would never be into you—"

Slaam~!

When Uzumaki managed to open his long-lashed eyes, he saw Hyuuga hovering over him, her right hand slammed next to his face in a dominating stance.

'Is she,' the inner male Uzumaki was fan-girl screaming behind his transformation, 'did she just pin me to the wall? Is this what she's into? SOME YURI SHIT?'

The gears in male Uzumaki's head started spinning like a hamster on a wheel, 'Shit, then is she not into Uchiha? But she's into girls. Then does it mean that I have a chance as long as I do the sexy jutsu? But,but I like having a dick. What is happening?'

"Once I become Waker's Pearl...I will never let you near Uzumaki sama."

 _thump-!_

 _Badum badum badum badum badum badum badum badum badum badum badum badum badum_

Now it was Uzumaki's turn to blush like a fool. The tables have completely turned. But the only one who doesn't see that is the Hyuuga girl.

When Hyuuga left Uzumaki behind, to sink to his wobbly knees and blush like his body temperature is out of control, she didn't forget to turn back and also give her after-thought warning, "And don't you dare to speak of Uchiha sama in such distardly terms."

Looking her accusingly as if she just violated him, Uzumaki stammered with a widespread red hue all over his face,. His face was so red it looked like he had a terrible sunburn. "You-you-you-you act like you know him really well. But do you know his name?"

Not wanting to lose to the weird mystery girl, Hyuuga retorted, but her stammering gave away that she is not used to making smart come-backs, "I-I know yours."

"Huh?" Uzumaki's throat made an audible sound of swallowing.

"Gold digger."

And in a velocity of light, she disappeared out of the courtyard.

* * *

Preview: A Battle Royale is held among the fifty in an island. Only five can survive and go on to the semi-final. Can our cinnamon bun, lavender eyed bunny Hyuuga get one step closer to her revenge? Next time on Waker's Pearl! Please show me some love with your reviews~~3


	18. Chapter 18

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Author's Warning: Okay, this chapter is **M-Rated,** containing suggestive and violent themes. Also, I am going to write about women's **menses** in a pretty explicit way, **so if you are very skittish, please just read the first 4000 words and skip the rest**. I personally don't think menstrual blood is gross, just a natural part of being a girl, but if you think otherwise, I totally respect that, just skip the last 2000 words. You've been warned! Thank you!

I was really really tired when I wrote this, so please excuse typos, awkward writing, and etc. I'll update this chapter, because I am not really happy with how I wrote it. As always, thank you for reading Waker's Pearl and brightening my day with your reviews!

* * *

After receiving the news that the Novo Orochimaru forces illegally opened the portal of demonic summons, Uchiha went back to the Northern camp to provide the much needed support in pushing back the enemies and knitting back the hole in the Realm's barrier shield.

Uzumaki argued with Uchiha about how he should tag along, but the general consensus was that he should stay behind, do housework, and be an ideal politician, quelling the disturbed public opinion in the capital.

He was much more better than the blunt Uchiha when it comes to easing the public's anxiety about the psychotic invaders.

Uchiha's bluntness is so legendary that once he stood up in the podium in front of the representatives of the Realm's cities, and they all returned with their face-ashen white and ready to abdicate their lordships because they believed that they were royally screwed.

Thankfully, Uzumaki's sunny disposition and easy social grace calmed the disturbance Uchiha caused, but the Akatsukis quickly learned to never again make Uchiha the one to announce in public. He is much better as the man behind the wheels, and he was happier that way.

Before he left the capital, Uchiha gave stringent instructions to Hyuuga pertaining to her daily exercise, training, and theoretical studying on chakra usage, diplomatic arts, and wild medicine so she can catch up to her peers who are ahead of her.

He was in his office when he calmly prepared to go back to face his enemies again. She stood by, shuffling on her feet and wanting to help, but she learned that she was just being like an anxious rabbit who lost track in the woods.

He felt the worried look in her eyes without having to see her face. And he knew she was silently entreating him to let her follow him to the war, by the way her fingers nervously gripped at her homework. But this is especially the time he has to act with purpose. If he wavers, nobody in the Realm will be safe from the consequences, including Hyuuga.

Her lips quivered, "Could...could you win?"

He closed his black briefcase that contained his weapons with a click.

Both of them knew that if the war doesn't end in a month, he cannot make it to the Waker's Pearl tournament.

Even though it was Hyuuga's battle to fight, the thought of Waker sama being far away in a deadly battle field was enough to distract her from focusing on the tournament.

'What if he...' Just the thought of him dying or mortally wounded made her want to suffer in his place.

Turning his back to her, he calmly said, "I will be back as soon as I can." And he left, not letting her know that it bothers him to leave the small woman behind in the capital while he goes to the North.

The lizard didn't forget to hiss into Uchiha's ear, "Aww, how cute. Playing house."

When he didn't respond, it made an insolent remark, "You're like a husband leaving his little wife home."

He swatted the creature off his shoulder, and it landed on the ground and crept to Hyuuga who was seeing him off at one of the main entrances.

The battlefield was full of unexpected twists and turns, but Uchiha's men, including Hidan who followed, were surprised by how calmly he carried out the day to day campaign.

Hidan noticed that the enemies were full of surprises and that monsters from other dimensions were the least of their worries. The real bane for Uchiha's forces were the cloned armies whose power was to leech off chakra through ultraviolet waves. Hidan was getting easily exhausted himself and he was sure the Waker was getting tired by the ongoing battles as well. But seeing the stoic head commander, he cannot feel comfortable voicing his distress.

The sky was turning purplish dark by the rising smoke of the burning horizon, and balls of fire were falling on the Novo Orochimaru forces with cycloptic vengeance. The Second Waker's fireball jutsu was astronomical, making the spheres of deadly flames descend from the sky like hell bent meteors. It seemed that the war was turning to Uchiha's favor.

He returned to his camp base and entered his large private tent, saluted by the austere bow of the guards.

It was the silent decree that nobody was to disturb the Second Waker when he recieves his mail through his raven or snake summon.

Most of his letters were from the Akatsukis, but the letters that he keeps in his inner pocket of his armor was written by a small hand.

All of the letters that he kept close to the left side of his chest started with

 _Waker sama,_

and had questions like

 _Are you eating well, Waker sama? Do you still suffer from nightmares?_

There were also specific requests like

 _please try to sleep at least six hours a day, Waker sama._

 _Waker sama, please eat both your tomatoes and carrots._

The Second Waker grimaced at the last part. That damn lizard must have ratted him out, telling her about his left over carrots.

The writer also liked to share what happened to her, little things, silly things that are too insubstantial and cheery to be read in the bloody battlefield.

 _Waker sama, today in the cafeteria, we had this cupcake called "Herb de Provence." It had cream cheese frosting with my favorite flower-lavender petals. The inside had lavender honey jam, and eating it felt like standing in lavender field. Do you still not want one? Not all cupcakes are created equally._

 _I do not believe that t_ _omatoes are fruits, Waker sama._

 _Waker sama, there's this girl in the Palace. She said her name is Yuzumaki and joked about how her name means 'sea weed rice wrap with yuzu fruit.' Even though she always bothers me to make ramen for her, I like being around her. But I am not sure if I should trust her. I'm afraid of being hurt again._

In another letter with a later date, it was written

 _Oh, how Yuzumaki san looks like? Well, Waker sama, she has very pretty eyes. I'm not good at writing specifics, but she has long blond hair that she likes to tie up and has a very fit figure._

 _Hmm...Waker sama, is this why you're asking me? I heard that war makes men lonely._

He frowned, and then a sweet blush crept over his face when he read the last part.

 _Hehe, I'm just kidding, Waker sama._

Her letters told him that she didn't know that she was exacerbating his loneliness with her gentle teasing. He wondered, does she have any idea what he wants to do after he reads her letters? Does she even know what men do when they're lonely?

It was so easy for him to imagine her voice that it hurt.

The final part of the most recent letter said:

 _Waker sama, it is already the night before the big day. Deidara sensei threatened to make us run laps if anybody breaks the curfew, but I still managed to sneak this letter out, thanks to lizard chan. Please don't forget to give him some Northern tangerines when you send him back. He was very upset the last time he came back without them. Please don't worry about me. I'll be waiting for you to come back._

And always the letters end with the tiniest inscription that warrants the use of a 60X magnifying glass, _I miss you_ _, Waker sama._

* * *

A Battle Royale is held among the fifty in an island. Only five can go on to the semi-final. Then the final three will be chosen to be the Waker's Pearl.

All of the fifty girls rushed to the tropical island, some hiding in the dense forests and some battling as soon as they've heard the signal to begin.

Hyuuga hid under a leafy plant that looked like elephant ears, her sharp pale eyes carefully scanning the topography.

On her left arm was a white band-aid patch that covers up her shot marks. The injection supposedly will keep her alive, but it is not going to abate any pain or trauma of injury or disease. It was simply a lifeline that Juugo and Kabuto invented for the girls to avoid high rates of mortality.

On a right wrist was her watch that showed her chakra and energy levels. if the bar graphs of both go below 0 by ten o'clock in the afternoon, she is disqualified from continuing the test.

Konan reminded the contestants, "As long as you have a little bit of energy and chakra left by ten, you've passed. Even just a little."

Konan was the one to inject the flesh and chakra-regenerative solution into each candidate's left arm. No matter how traumatic the injury may be, the girls can survive any scale of wound, including amputation. With the exception of the neck. Juugo was in the stand-by, always ready to whisky away any girl who seems incapable to go on, including what ever limb fell off so he can glue them together in his own laboratory.

She shivered. She definitely didn't want to have her ear or whatever body part fall off and to be arbitrarily reattached like some wax doll.

Then Hyuuga heard the sound of a sharp blade slicing through the air from above.

"Come out, come out!"

 _Sa-saak_

Bending her body backward, she dodged the flying axe that sliced the elephant ear that was serving as her hide out.

The chain attached axe moved fluidly like a dancer's strip of ribbon but before the chain get wind up her throat, she rolled on the ground and darted off to the forest's opening.

As she ran, her knees brushed by the tall blades of grass, and she heard Fumiwara, Seto, and Takahashi following like a pack of ravenous hyenas.

As expected, Fumiwara sharpened her sense of noticing spikes of chakra. Just hearing her breath down her neck made Hyuuga's chakra spike in a haphazard fashion.

Fumiwara screamed, her mouth opening in a snarl, "I can smell your fear, Hyuuga! You coward!"

Meanwhile, Seto has attached her two double edged axes to both ends of her long metal chain that can stretch on for yards and yards. If the chain even manages to touch her, it will wrap her up like a boa snake in its grip, and Hyuuga doesn't even want to imagine getting her throat chopped by both of the axes. Kabuto might even need to get her a new head.

When Hyuuga felt a small obstacle that she slightly tripped over, a slight glance told her that the object was rolling down hill. It had long dark hair.

Cold fear seized her by the chest, 'It's just a dead animal. It has to be!' But another voice clawed up her throat and whispered into her ear, 'It's a head.'

Hyuuga thought, 'I better get to a broad expanse.' She just can't run in the dense foliage, wondering if there were any more hands, arms, or heads rolling under the leaves.

When the three girls who pursued Hyuuga glided their feet against the white grainy sand of the beach, suddenly she was nowhere to be found.

Seto looked around to see where she was hiding, but right then, she materialized behind her, hair flying like an indigo burst of flame and eyes stark white.

"Look out!"

She barely dodged the blow of blue fire. When the others scattered to different places in the beach, they saw what looked like a huge metallic claw attached to Hyuuga's thin arm.

Fumiwara wondered, "Did her hand just turn into a giant claw?" Physical mutation was not common, but still was one of the strengths students can use.

Jenkashi, another girl, shook her head, 'No, take a closer look."

Hyuuga's right hand wasn't replaced by some monstrous claws; her hand was enwrapped with the fiery blue head of a lion that was baring its incisors against her competitors.

The sight of the pale girl whose arms and limbs were slender to a point of looking fragile, wielding the blue Lion Fist with her right hand was strikingly haunting.

After seeing that Hyuuga cannot do Lion fist with her other hand, Takahashi laughed, albeit a bit nervously, "Ha, so you can only do one lion fist! What a joke!"

Hyuuga glanced at her bleeding left arm. Seto's axe blade managed to cut a bit through. She took a look at her watch, and the green bar graph of her energy level turned orange-a bad sign.

The other girls who were also near by decided to join in this massive attack against Hyuuga, hoping to eliminate at least one competitor and wound several on their way.

She was outnumbered-25 to 1.

When she glanced around the beach, her right hand enveloped with the dancing flames of her Lion Fist, she spotted someone taller than her with pink hair in the distance.

Gazing at Haruno, she thought, 'how strange...'

It was odd how nobody near Haruno made any attempt to attack _her,_ but all of them looked at her like she was some piece of meat. Then a realization dawned.

She murmured, "That's why."

None of the candidates, except perhaps Karin, were going to lay a finger on Haruno, because the girls were already planning to get on her good side. It was a universal fact, a given that Haruno was going to be the Waker's Pearl.

In contrary to Haruno, Hyuuga was a easy target-someone who they can easily pluck off from the race. So they were all going to lunge on her. In their eyes, she was an appetizer to snack on before each one dumps further fuel into the unquenchable fire of competition.

Hyuuga stared at them, her pale eyes eyeing them with eerie calm and focus.

Without anyone to dare to attack her, Haruno got to stand back and watch with cool aloofness, a privilege that belongs to the strongest of the food chain.

Then ten of them surrounded Hyuuga in a circle, and their hands executed their favorite jutsu moves with alarming dexterity and soon ten deadly spears shot forth towards her.

She stood motionless as four of the spears were couple inches away from her face.

'What is she doing?!' Haruno imagined the blades piercing through her face and eyes, spraying red blood on the white sand.

She cried, "Hyuuga!"

 _Clang-_

But when the sharp blades clashed against each other, nobody has hit anything except air.

When their blades of various shapes entangled with one another, they grunted in frustration in their effort to pull out their weapons.

Then a strand of black hair fell across their vision of sight like leaves. And then feet that lightly stepped on the intertwined metal blades like a feather.

When they looked up, they saw her raising her burning lion fist above her head, ready to bring down her strike.

As soon as she let gravity undertake her in a motion that was like water or calligraphy, she had no problem taking down all of them with her lion fist.

Because the ten had no time to break free from their concentric jutsu attacks, they were thrown to the ground, their watches all beeping with the mark "0" and a calm monotone female voice, "Exterminated."

Like a bird, she flew above her ten victims and swept her lion fist and the regal beast mauled Fumiwara's head off.

Takahashi screamed as she saw Hyuuga's glowing blue fist pull off her head like a weed.

But Haruno said, "No, Hyuuga didn't slit her throat." Her keen emerald eyes saw what Hyuuga really did; the way the giant lion's head moved like a shooting star was creating a visual illusion of tearing the girl's head off.

When Fumiwara dropped to the ground, her head was completely intact, set on her body, but the fear Hyuuga instilled in the girls' hearts made them believe that their heads were gone.

A bead of sweat went down Haruno's forehead, 'But how did Hyuuga improve so much? It's not just her speed. Her moves are so smooth.'

Compared to a lot of girls, Hyuuga was on the small side-short, petite, and comparably light weight.

Haruno observed, 'Because of her smaller stature, her attacks and blows never really made much impact. Seto taunted her that it was like hitting someone with a feather. The only way she could attack is be faster and more daring. And she did it.'

Hyuuga was like a flickering blue fire fly, swinging her lion fist as she descended on her enemies with the aid of gravity. and the harder the girls tried to seize her, the more energy they wasted in the process.

She moved as lightly as a feather. The harder they tried to grab her, the easier she evaded their touch.

Hyuuga stepped in front of Seto who was lying on the ground, coughing out blood. When she saw her feet, she raised her eyes burning with hatred.

The pale eyed girl looked down at her, "How does it feel like...getting hit by a feather?"

Seto's eyes widened, "What?" But Hyuuga merely looked down at her with cold pale eyes and left without a further word.

When one of the girls started running in the opposite direction, she descended on her back as if she was toppling down an air slide and with the support of her other hand, swung the blue lion fist onto her back.

With a squeal, the girl fell down, her wrist watch blinking red.

Then suddenly a girl with bright red hair jumped in and threw down an adamantine sealing chain that splitter the upper sandy plane of the beach. Hyuuga bounced upwards and landed way back. She glared at the girl who smirked as she winded her glowing chakra chains and spun them around like a toy.

Seto cried out, "Karin san, this is my battle!"

Looking back at Seto lying on the beach, Karin scoffed, "Please. Everyone knows that you and Fumiwara are just my shoddy imitations. I have a much better chance with the Hyuuga, so back off and watch like a good girl."

Seto bit her lips, "ugh!" but she couldn't refute Karin's insult. Her chain trick was an inferior substitute for Karin's chakra chain that she can manifest out of nowhere and break down any jutsu or summon animal. Also Fumiwara's ability to notice chakra spikes according to emotions is a mere figment of what Karin can achieve with her vast chakra reserve and life force.

Hyuuga stared at her wide eyed, 'Karin? Karin wants to fight me.'

But she hated the way Karin smiled as if this was all a fun game. Karin was the one to rally the team and lead the bullies in their mission to kill her that day when she was thirteen. And even though she knew that her friendship with Haruno had cracks, Karin was the one to ultimately destroy her only friendship.

Hyuuga raised her lion fist that reignited with the new will of fire. She still has nightmares about dropping down the cliffs, and she wasn't going to go down without a fight.

When Karin materialized behind her, she turned and span her lion fist, drawing a blazing, blue orbit in the air.

Karin laughed, her lips drawing into a snarl, "Your motions are too big and wide, Hyuuga! It's like you're begging me to hit you!"

And as if to demonstrate her point, Karin ran straight into where Hyuuga left open and smacked her straight below her chest. She flew back, ploughing through the sand and grunted.

Then she saw a big shadow falling on her body. She looked up and saw a big rectangular brick of sand and mortar descend from the sky, blocking the sight of the sun.

 _Bam-!_

When she rolled sideways, another and then another came flying for her.

 _Bam-! Bam-! Bam-! Bam-!_

Karin laughed in a high pitch tone, "Why, Hyuuga? You don't like playing dominoes! You always cried about having nobody to play with! You should be honored to see my new earth jutsu. I was originally preparing this for Haruno!"

Hyuuga felt herself running out of breath as she ducked the flying dominoes that soared deep from the sand.

 _Thump!_

One giant 6ft brick fell right in front of her body, and she stood rigid, knowing that if she moved even an inch, her face, feet, everything would've been painfully squashed.

But soon Karin's face distorted into a grimace, 'Why is she dodging them so well?' Then she glanced at those who were forgetting that they were also in the competition. She smirked when something caught her eye.

Then suddenly, Karin made a quick hand jutsu, and the 6ft tall, 1 ton weighing bricks collapsed into mounds of sand. Hyuuga quickly buried her nose in the elbow, protecting herself from the sand particles that floated in the air.

Then she heard a scream,

"Kyaahh!"

When Hyuuga shifted her gaze, her nose still buried in her sleeve, she saw Takahashi piercing both Seto and Fumiwara's chests with her hands.

Seto and Fumiwara both coughed out blood, but Takahashi quickly withdrew her blood soaked hands and threw them onto the sea. The ocean water slowly bled red.

Her right arm changed its muscular structure, and she gripped the chained axe Seto dropped. The chain made a deadly sound of rattling metal on the grainy sand. Takahashi betrayed her 'friends' and absorbed their chakra and abilities all together.

She laughed, "Yes, this power! It was worth hanging out with these bitches. I was waiting for the right time!"

Then with a maniacal laughter, she charged toward Hyuuga and swung her chain with an axe at her.

When Hyuuga drew into her defense stance, Karin taunted, "na, uh uh~" and threw her chakra-sealing chain and wounded her body, including her lion fist.

Hyuuga's gaze snapped to her lion fist that was wrapped in Karin's glowing chains, "Ah!"

Then Takahashi's chain wrapped around her body, her chest, both arms, and even her right leg. Captured like a wild beast by both Karin's chakra chains and Takahashi's, Hyuuga grunted and tried to stand on her feet but her knees gave away and collapsed unto the sand.

Without any thinking, Haruno ran towards her and cried "Hyuuga!"

She swung her deadly fist to knock the red haired girl off but Karin quickly let go of her chains and blocked Haruno's attack with her arms.

As Hyuuga glared at Takahashi who was running towards her with the chained axe blade in her hand, she tried to shake the chakra chains off from her lion fist but she can't. Even though Karin wasn't holding the chain anymore, it was still tightly coiling around her lion fist.

Takahashi could almost scream in triumph. All she had to do was strike her with her axe and she was going to win.

Then Hyuuga cried out, _Protective Eight Trigrams 64 palms Katana,_ and the chakra molded itself into a katana like Kusanagi in her left hand.

She couldn't help but laugh at Hyuuga's desperation, "You're still bound to the ground! What use do you have with a sword?!"

It was true. Hyuuga couldn't move her arms. The chains that coiled around her body hindered any movement, and she trembled as she felt Karin's chain suck off her chakra.

But when Takahashi charged, Hyuuga bowed low, tossed her katana up and grabbed it by the hilt and slitted her abdomen.

Like torn curtains that revealed red window panes, Takahashi's clothes splitted, and red blood rained on Hyuuga's face, black hair, and black and light purple robe.

When the chains loosened up, Hyuuga used her right hand to push the edge of the hilt and buried the sword further into Takahashi's body.

Then as soon as she felt her chakra level drop, her Protective Eight Trigrams 64 palms katana disappeared and Hyuuga dropped to the ground, face flat on the sand.

When Hyuuga rolled down to the water, she heard a heavy thud behind her as Takahashi's body fell to the sand. Her enemy's watch glowed with a red 0 and she heard the coldly delivered message of failure, 'Exterminated.'

With great effort, Hyuuga stood up, her legs trembling and her arms struggling to shake off her chains that hung over her body like a shawl.

As she trudged toward the beach, she passed by the lying bodies of her competitors that Juugo was soon going to gather. She fell one or twice on the sand as she tried to slink back into the forests like a wounded animal.

When her pale eyes shifted to the right, she saw Haruno and Karin engaging in their own battle.

Sweating and panting, she looked at her watch. Her chakra is dangerously low, and her energy is slightly below 30%.

She thought as she dragged herself across the sandy beach that felt like a desert, 'I have to hide. I can't be attracting their attention.'

But as if Karin read her mind, she snapped her crimson eyes to Hyuuga and smirked, "Not so fast..."

Drawing poison darts from her collar, Karin shot a particularly potent one towards Hyuuga, hitting her exactly at her chakra pressure point beneath her ear.

When she felt the dent of the poisonous needle, she fell down to her knees.

Hyuuga gasped, clutching her throat that was hurting as if she was stabbed by a thousand needles.

She remembered reading about the poison that causes such pain. It was the kind of poison that tries to kill her by absorbing as much water in her body as it could. If she fails to replenish the moisture the poison was sucking out of her, she'll die, she was sure. If the poison crystallizes her blood before she can get water, there is no way for her flesh to regenerate. She'll be dried fish.

And even if she gets lucky and drinks enough water, she can't move her legs or arms for two hours.

She couldn't think straight. All she can think was 'I...I need water...as long as I...'

In the middle of bleeding and flinching bodies, she was crawling on her belly, dragging her limbs along.

Then she heard Karin's mocking voice behind her, "Huhu."

And then came the blood-red girl's strike.

But it was Karin who screamed, holding her bleeding hand as she stepped back.

Like a cornered cat, Hyuuga slashed at her with one of her kunais. Karin groaned and fell to her knees, paying the price of hastily assuming that she was her prey, and Hyuuga managed to escape to the forest.

When she dragged herself along the grass, bugs and spiderwebs caught in her hair. The worst moment was when she bumped into another victim of Karin's poison—the skin as black, peeling, and desiccated as a tree bark with eye sockets with yellowing goo.

She let out a sharp gasp and whimpered as she crawled further into the forest, searching for water.

Then at that moment, she felt a dull, familiar ache at the bottom of her stomach, a pain she goes through every month like most girls her age.

In disbelief, she dragged her right hand underneath her pelvic region and when she drew it back to her face, she gasped.

She shook her head in denial, "No, no, no,no!"

Her hand, which was soaked with her thin, viscuous blood, trembled.

'I thought I wasn't due until next week. Why?!"

She bit her lip and looked around in desperation. Now that her body was losing even more water than usual, she had to find even a single drop. Then her eyes widened and she grabbed a green thick shoot that reminded her of a bamboo.

Furiously, she sawed at the sugarcane plant with the same kunai she used to attack Karin, and finally after the few splinters, the plant relented and snapped, oozing its sugary dew at the rim.

Encouraged by the sweet feast, she looked around the ground and found some berries that dropped to the ground.

Hoping that the berries can quench her growing thirst till she finds a source of water, she hurriedly dipped her hand into the soil and gobbled up the mushy fruit.

As she let the mushy, putrid fruit fill her mouth, all she could hope for is that Karin suffers for inflicting such degrading suffering.

She finally smelt the scent of water lilies.

"Water!"

She elbow crawled her way to where she needed to go, and she finally spotted a pond. She hastily dunked her face into the water and pulled out, gasping.

She dipped her lips onto the surface again, and then sat back. She drew out six kunais and a red string with written spells from her trouser pockets and pierced the ground around her with the six kunais and tied them with the red string.

After giving her work a last examination, she finally sighed in relief as she rolled herself flat on the ground, inside the red string barrier.

She stared up at the sky and the tall canopy of forest trees and clutched her kunai close to her chest, in case of her protection seal fails.

* * *

"Congratulations. You've passed."

Her pale lavender eyes blinked open at the sound of her watch. A warm sense of relief doused her entire body, but as soon as her tension relaxed, her body started aching everywhere.

She was so fatigued that when she opened her eyes first, everything in her surrounding seemed a blur like the reflection on a mirror in a steamed bathroom.

Her throat also felt scratchy and extra parched, and her cheeks burned with hormonal hot flashes, and her tongue had a bitter, dry taste. Her mind was also suffering from a menstrual related condition called 'brain fog,' which makes her unable to have a clear sense of direction.

But the most telling part was her entire bottom was completely drenched with blood. The foul tinge to the smell of blood reminded her of rotten fish, a clear sign that she was going through a feminine inconvenience not a battle casualty.

She hated being in her period for a lot of reasons, but the first days, she has an extremely heavy flow that necessitates changing her pads every hour. It was something that she didn't even tell Sara because she was embarrassed to explain why she goes to the bathroom ever so often, once in a while.

When she touched her bottom, she groaned, "I...I should have taken off my pants or something." But she also knew that it was impossible for her to expose herself by being half naked in the jungle.

Then she heard the sound of snapping twigs and she flinched, eyes wide like a doe's that senses the presence of an intruder. Fear, like an ice cold hand, gripped her heart, her beating muscle in turn sent cold blood into her arteries.

The watch apathetically voiced, "The Akatsukis shall search for you."

When she saw a black mass with a tall, lean silhouette emerge from the dense trees, she was terrified. 'Is it Zetsu sensei? Please let it be Konan sensei. She's a woman. No, no, not Kabuto. Oh, why."

Humiliated, she cannot fight her tears.

When she heard the heavy sound of a shoe pushing into the muddy soil, she sobbed quietly and curled into a feral position. Karin's poison which compounded the pain of her cramps made it impossible for her to even stand up and pretend to be fine. All she could think was 'I am doomed.'

Hiding her face in her two hands, she begged in a trembling voice, "No, please, please don't look at me, please..."

But then she heard a voice that she shouldn't be hearing in the Battle Royale, "Hyuuga—"

She was delirious. The brain fog that she suffers along with her period must be disorienting her. The hot flashes was intensifying her delirium as well. It can't be...

Tears fell steadily from her eyes as she writhed in her undignified state. Whoever it was, she wished the person would just go away. She felt like she just soiled her pants and was lying on the ground for the whole world to see.

His thumb rubbed off the juice of berries that coated her lips, "Deplorable," he added with a sigh.

"Wa...waker sama?"

No, she would rather be happy if she had just soiled herself like a three year old. No, instead she was rolling like a pig in her own blood, the blood that she cannot stop from flowing, and she just wants to the cool earth to swallow her up from his sight.

She can feel him crouching over her and inspecting her quietly.

Then in a voice she could've mistaken as gentle, he stated, "You're bleeding..." The way he spoke confused her. He didn't give away whether or not he knew what was causing her to bleed.

He asked without expecting any positive answer, "Can you stand?"

Mortified beyond belief, she felt her eyes pricking with tears and entire body aching, and she hid her face in her arms, 'What kind of fighter can't even stand up because of her, her period?'

She heard another faint sigh as he said pensively, "I didn't know it would be this serious." When she realized that he meant her 'period' by 'it,' she blushed and closed her eyes shut.

As for himself, Uchiha was more worried about the possibility of Hyuuga acquiring toxic shock syndrome than her embarrassment.

He didn't know that much about female ailments, but the mark on her neck showed she was infected with a poison needle that drains the blood and mineral in her body. And lying on the soil that can carry whatever microbes and exposing herself to night animals-he closed his eyes and shook his head, 'That can't be good.'

His firm voice said, "Hyuuga, listen carefully."

She was still hiding her face in her hands, but he continued, "I know you can't move right now, but you need to be cleaned."

She slightly pulled her face away from her hands and her shoulders froze in tension.

"I promise I won't touch you more than necessary."

"No! Anything but..."

He kept his distance from her as he tried to persuade her of the need to be sanitary, "Then you have to let me carry you on my back and go straight to the Akatsukis."

She then fully faced him, "Then-then, please let...Konan sensei."

It wasn't that Uchiha hasn't thought of that idea. But unfortunately, Konan was deployed to the Northeast where they were reports of the enemy's raiding.

"Konan...isn't available at this moment." He said in a tone of regret even though it wasn't his fault that Konan was absent.

She rubbed her face with her hand and thought for a moment. If she lets Waker sama carry her to one of the male Akatsukis, her period drenched bottom would be available for the teacher and all the girls to see. She remembered seeing several of the girls snickering when she passed by, and when she looked at the mirror, she saw a trace of blood on the bottom part of her pants. She wasn't sure if she could relive that moment and keep a straight face.

Feeling feverish and heated in her face, she was starting to feel too confused to think clearly.

She looked at the Waker who was staring at the direction of the shoreline, patiently waiting for her to make her decision. He didn't make any gesture or suggestion as to whether she should go one way or the other. As far as he is concerned, her body and decision were hers, and it was her right to be as fussy as she wants.

As she stared at his calm, detached profile, she started feeling more and more at ease. 'This was Waker sama' she told herself. She can't imagine him acting with any other intention than as a caring teacher and mentor. He looked way too calm and matter-of-fact when he looked at her morbid condition as if she had broken her ankle. Maybe he was right. This was just like any medical condition that needs to be treated quickly. Who knows what would happen, the effect of the poison, lying unconscious on a jungle for six hours with a dirty underwear...

The stickiness between her thighs that plastered to her bottom like second skin urged her to make a decision quickly.

She finally nodded, "Then... _onegai shimasu..."_

But when she felt his shadow envelop her lying form and his big hands grab both sides of her elastic waistline and slowly pull her pants down, she gasped and felt her blush crawling down to her neck.

She started dry sobbing but she felt his hand cup her cheek soothingly, his voice firm, "Hyuuga, I need to do this."

She weakly asked, "why?"

"I can deal with the animals that smell you, but..."

He hesitated before saying sheepishly, "I can't fight disease carrying microbes."

As he pulled down her pants, her trousers inching lower to reveal her pale skin, she bit her right fist to muffle the sound of her sobs.

When the cool air of the night made contact with her naval and bottom of her thighs, she trembled. Her legs felt pretty much dead, because of the poison's effect combined with her menstrual symptoms, which includes her numbing cramps that made her legs feel heavy.

She covered her mouth as she whispered, "I'm...gross."

"Shhh... let me help you."

When she felt him carefully lift her waist up and slip something dry and soft underneath her bottom, she asked with alarm, "What's this?"

He said matter-of-factly, "My towel."

Towels might be essentials in daily life, but it was a luxury during war and long travels. She protested, "No, don't! It'll get dirty!"

He sighed as if she was being silly and reassured her, "Hyuuga, it's fine."

Even though this entire situation screamed wrong, she felt oddly pampered and even treasured by the way he tended to her ailment. He was scrupulous in keeping his vow to not touch her more than necessarily, and when he lifted her waist or either leg, he made sure to place her down as carefully as he can.

"You have to wipe the blood off." He rummaged something from his pockets and pulled out a handkerchief. He swished the fabric lightly in the water and squeezed the excess moisture with both hands. Then he handed it to her and turned his back, so she can clean herself in privacy.

She tried, but her arms were dying as well, making her attempt to clean herself as efficient as a rag doll's.

"I don't know how...how I can do this." Her hands were trembling, due to the poison or mortification, she can't figure it out.

She felt a warm touch on her hand as he gently pulled out the wet handkerchief from her grasp.

She then felt a hand, undoubtedly a man's, press on the side of her right thigh and tilt it so her body can gently twist along. She flushed, realizing how she was showing the side of her bare bum, but she blushed even harder when she felt pleasure from the cool air and airy, gentle dabs of wet cotton.

But what kept her heart thumping was not the embarrassment of the situation. There wasn't any kind of explicit attempt on his part to explore her. Nor did he treat her body with cold, clinical directness. Rather, his touch was so light and feathery that she wondered if the handkerchief was even picking up on any of her blood.

He was really doing his best to be faithful to his promise to tamp down his touches to the minimum, to a fault actually.

"I..." he paused as he hesitated, "I need you to spread your legs, Hyuuga."

She froze, her eyes widened. She already felt tears resurfacing to her eyes as she stared at nothing, the shock of his words feeling like a splash of ice cold water to her face.

She slightly choked on her own words as she asked him tentatively, "Just a little bit?"

He nodded and the calm in his face gently quelled her fears and anxiety.

She turned her face away and tightened her thigh muscles as she tried to spread them a little bit more.

But when she saw the look of surprise on Uchiha's face, she knew something must have gone amiss with her effort.

Hiss mouth slightly opened as he carefully told her, "You just spilt..." He didn't mean to embarrass her. He cannot help but be fascinated with the sight unfolding before him. He couldn't understand why some men would find women's menstruation gross. She was utterly, devastatingly beautiful. He wasn't worthy of beholding her. His eyes glowed red and his tomoes span as his eyes absorbed the sight of her red, panting face and pale body spread apart before him, so sweetly vulnerable.

Hyuuga blushed, thinking of how he saw her blood seep out and slightly imbue the towel with a little red bloom.

She clenched her eyes shut, "I'm...I'm pathetic."

Then she felt the ghost of petal soft lips right below her belly button, the slow, serious press of lips on her naval that still thrummed with her menstrual ache.

"No, you're not pathetic." His tone was adamant, refusing to be counterfeited.

His dark eyes looked up to her from her stomach, as he stated, "You're paralyzed and hurting."

He raised himself up and said "You can hate me all you want after I do this to you, but let me help you Hyuuga." He just wanted to reassure her that she was in good hands.

For Hyuuga, she just couldn't understand.

He was doing one of the most self-degrading things conceivable in her imagination, but he was entreating her to let him do it. Didn't it embarrass or even anger him to be wiping off someone's debris off their body? But he was so obliging, patient, and exceedingly careful that she can feel her heart thumping and swelling at the same time.

Every brush of the wet cotton handkerchief and even the soft pressure of his lips on her navel felt so tender and gentle that it almost broke her heart.

They felt like little acts of worship.

Then the pain came and she grunted, "Hmph!"

He shot up and stared at her, "Did I hurt you?"

"No, no..."

"Hyuuga." He eyed her seriously.

"It-it's my cramps. They're worst in my first day."

Then she felt it again, the soft indented feel of lips pressing onto her naval. But this time, it was not feathery. The lips were pressed with slightly more pressure than usual, and she felt his lips gently chew on her sensitive skin as if to give her stomach a massage, coaxing the pain to go away.

As he played with her skin, sucking on it, his smoldering eyes bore straight into her soul.

"I breathed in some chakra." And he made a slight smile that stunned her like a shot gun.

She almost slapped herself in her cheek in order to get a hang of herself. She stammered, "Th-thank you..."

He made a brief nod in acknowledgment. Then he proceeded to wrap her lower body with his handkerchief as a substitute for her bloody underwear. When he pressed his thumb down to hold the fabric together and slipped the edge into the over layered clothe, he was done. Then he took his cloak off and wrapped it several times around her waist, making a quick, improvised version of a wrap skirt. He had lived so many years without enough clothing that recycling clothes became a natural habit of survival.

When he was finished, he rose to his full height and readjusted his garb and checked if he had everything he needed before he departed again.

He then coughed a bit into his fist and glanced down at Hyuuga who was staring at him wide-eyed. His eyes sharpened into a familiar glare and his voice turned cold, "It's a treatment that already exists. So don't mistake it as anything else."

She in turn nodded emphatically, "Yes, of-of course." She hoped that the night shadows were hiding her darkening cheeks.

Then he nodded and darted to the opposite direction to where she could hear Juugo sensei calling for her.

* * *

 _Present, in the kitchen of the Uchiha Mansion_

Dark irises that shone like volcanic glass eyed her carefully, "You're not feeling well."

She was wearing a dark blue camisole. Even though the weather was still slightly chilly, she had been wearing the camisole because of her menopausal hot flashes. Apparently the hormonal imbalance causes her to feel hot without any way to feel better.

Blushing, she looked away, "No, Sasuke, I'm fine. I don't know why it is hurting so much today. It should pass."

Without saying a word, he lifted her by the waist and pulled her on top of his lap as he sat on one of the chairs by the dining table.

"Sa-Sasuke?"

He pulled her closed thighs apart, putting her in a straddling position.

"Sa-Sasuke!"

Then he pushed her long dark hair behind her back and lifted his mouth and tenderly kissed her neck.

His chakra had the feeling of cooling menthol.

"Ahh..." She moaned softly despite her hands pushing against his arms. Even though she knew she shouldn't get swept away by his pace, the feeling of his chakra cooling off the uncomfortable heat was really helping her feel better. He gently kneaded her skin with his lips and teeth and tongue.

From his throat,he let out a gutteral groan and nuzzled the soft tip of his nose against her heated neck.

"Hinata..."

She gazed down at him, wondering what could be in her young master's thoughts this time.

He placed his forehead on her bare shoulder, "Have you thought about..."

He deeply inhaled the scent of her skin and then buried his lips on the soft flesh of her bare shoulder.

"Moving?"

Her pale lavender eyes fluttered and then widened in surprise.

He glanced at her and asked, "What if we move out of Konoha together?"

She placed her hands on his shoulders and looked at him, "Is something the matter, Sasuke?" Her voice was laced with worry.

Shaking his head, he pulled her towards him by her shoulders and placed his forehead on her right shoulder again, "Never mind. Forget what I said, Hinata."

Hinata frowned and then the wrinkle between her brows softened as she stroked his wild dark mane.

She wondered, 'Is he still angry toward Konoha? Sasuke...'

As fear and compassion overwhelmed her, she placed her forehead on his, closed her eyes, and cupped both sides of his face with her pale hands.

If only she could take away his pain, she would.


	19. Chapter 19

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto~

Author's Notes: So I see some reviewer samas who wanted to know the Second Waker and Hyuuga's age difference. Honestly, I left that part blank so people can just decide for themselves. It is totally up to you guys. But I imagine the age difference has to be at least 6 years. Because when Past! Hinata first met Past!Sasuke, she was ten and for Past!Sasuke to have accomplished all the things he did, I think he has to be at least sixteen.

* * *

The fifty candidates were back in the same conference hall where everything started. But the atmosphere was so different. There was a sense of defeat that permeated the girls who used to be so excited. Now the glorified spotlight was narrowed to just three girls who were hiding behind the curtains of the podium stage.

Haruno and Karin were dressed in different clothes that were customized for a fornight by the imperial tailors to their stylistic preferences. Haruno wore a flowing pink traditional robe with a pastel green sash that accentuated her slender waist and long legs. The green silk sash moved lightly around her like those ancient paintings of celestial beauties. Karin chose a more modern look, wearing a black dress that gave her an air of mystery and danger to her lovely crimson eyes and brilliant red hair, and she replaced her gasses with lens for the occasion.

The two women were behind the curtains, waiting for their que to appear on stage.

Haruno rubbed her temple and looked as frustrated as ever, but still beautiful, 'Well, it is supposed to be three! Where is that girl, Hyuuga?"

Meanwhile, Karin seemed to be completely indifferent to Hyuuga's whereabouts. She would actually prefer the Hyuuga to not show up, since she still held a grudge over the scar on her right hand.

Hyuuga was actually running outside, in the hallway to the conference. Her personal tailor and maids took too much of her time setting up her attire and hair, and now she was running late.

She almost tripped on her flowing pastel yellow gown, so she pulled her skirt up as she ran, 'Oh no, I hope I won't get in trouble!'

But when she passed by the pillars carved of pure black volcanic glass, she saw a reflection of a young dark haired woman, on a slightly shorter side of an average height, with pale eyes that widened in response to her gaze. She was wearing a long, flowing gown, and her hair was half tied with a light green silk ribbon that tantalizingly swayed by her bare neck.

Entranced by the reflection, Hyuuga halted on her steps despite herself.

Hyuuga smiled, and the girl on the translucent glass pillar smiled back. For once, she permitted herself to think that the woman on the glassy pillar was 'pretty.'

She secretly thought, 'I feel like a princess...' She blushed when she realized that she was being vain. But then she saw the White Zetsu's mischievous grin reflected on the pillar, and with a gasp, she hastened back to the grand hall where everyone was waiting for her.

His impish laughter cackled in the long hallway.

* * *

The First Waker Uzumaki was sitting on the white throne with arm chairs curved into an ivory waterfall, and the Second was sitting on a throne made of dark cast iron shields with the center, crowned with silver plumes. Their backdrop looked like undulating waves of cascading silver water, but at a closer look, Hyuuga saw that they were simply metal scales that reflected light on and off.

The fifty girls were standing on white marble with black veins that spread like vines, and the moonlight spilling through the milky sea shell window blinds felt cold as they reflected the grim look of loss and the pang of longing on each girl's face.

While Deidara sensei was tending to the last check up of Karin and Haruno's appearances, readjusting their ribbon sash and retouching their hair, Hyuuga slipped right behind the curtains and peered between the slight, thin opening. She can only see the back of the two Wakers' thrones and beyond them, she saw the fifty candidates, all standing in rows in salutation of Haruno, Karin, and _her._

Before, Hyuuga was a scared child in a flurry of excited girls, but now the world seemed to smile at her for once. Even though the rule was that five people can go onto the semifinals, only three survived and won that right, including her. The Battle Royale was unequivocally difficult, and now nobody can doubt her legitimacy as a candidate.

She thought, 'Just to think that a few days ago, some Akatsukis and candidates thought I was just a pampered favorite of Second Waker sama." She shivered at the memory of their cold glares and whispers, but she hurriedly straightened up and kept her chin up high.

Her heart fluttered with the thought, 'I am most happy.'

Then she heard Deidara sensei's calm, commanding voice, "Hyuuga."

She blushed, as he caught her red handed for peeping outside the curtains when she isn't supposed to. She is supposed to be the dignified finalist Waker's Pearl candidate, not a silly girl who can't say no to her own curiosity.

With cautious steps, she obeyed him and bowed her head in respect and deference.

Deidara, one of the Akatsukis who used to believe that she was unfairly privileged, nodded and told her, "Raise your head, Hyuuga."

When Hyuuga raised her head but still demurely lowered her gaze, Deidara gestured to a nearby servant who appeared with a silver tray.

Hyuuga stole a quick glance at the tray, and there was a tiny glass vial. As if he has done this multiple times, Deidara picked up the glass vial and opened it and Hyuuga immediately smelt a waft of perfume-she immediately liked it. It reminded her of some herbs that clarify her mind- something refreshing but calming at the same time. He dabbed some of the solution in the vial on his hand.

The blond sensei with sharp kohl lined eyes explained as he rubbed some on Hyuuga's glossy hair, "This is the ritual for the remaining survivors of the Waker's Pearl candidacy. One of the Akatsukis prepare the last candidates before the big event as sign that the Akatsukis all recognize your legitimacy. I have personally selected the scents that I believed will go well with each of you."

Then he expertly patted the perfumed water on Hyuuga's bare neck, underneath her ears, and wrists, "For Haruno, orange blossoms. For Karin, black orchids. For you, Hyuuga,"

He took a step back and looked at the glossed shine of Hyuuga's neck and collarbone area, "night jasmine."

A slight blush rose to the young woman's cheeks. Jasmines have an alluring, lovely scent, but they are also brewed as tea. She didn't expect the mean teacher whom she secretly hated to select such a beautiful and at the same time, useful flower for her. She very much liked Deidara sensei's choice, but her shyness kept her from actively expressing her happiness. Flattered beyond belief, she didn't know how to thank him, and she vaguely wondered if his preparation was his way to make up for his previous coldness.

When he saw Hyuuga blushing as if she wants to say something, his eyes widened but then he smirked, "As I said, it is tradition. This perfume ritual is proof that you're recognized by the Akatsukis. You're now ready to be blessed by the Wakers in front of the rest of the former candidates."

That was when Konan stepped up to the podium and unfurled a roll of paper.

She read, "The remaining three, Karin, Haruno, and Hyuuga, step forward."

The metallic scale-patterned curtains drew back, and she first squinted at the blinding light, and before her gaze fully absorbed the grandeur of the scene, she heard the thunderous clapping of those who slighted her.

There was no time wasted in beginning the ritual of blessing. Each girl got to stand in front of the First Waker and the Second Waker and receive their blessings.

Uzumaki would dip his hands on the same perfumed water Deidara used to adorn them and lightly smear them on the lips and insides of their wrists as a symbolic gesture of giving them 'tact' and 'strength.'

Unlike his usual self, Uzumaki becomes serious as he performs this ritual because he doesn't want to mock their six years of effort to make it this far. Even if he personally doesn't see the value in this competition, it would be an insult to not congratulate them upon their valiant deeds and achievements.

When the Hyuuga girl moved up to him, he eyed her calmly and soaked his fingers lightly onto the jade bowl Deidara was holding. When he properly wetted his fingers and looked up to her, he saw the girl lowering her gaze and patiently wait for her turn.

His blue eyes carefully took in the sight of her, and he was able to school his features then, but then she just had to lift her opalescent eyes that pierced straight into his chest like lightning.

But her eyes were not coolly confident like Karin's, nor full of determination and excitement like Haruno's. Her opalescent eyes were wet, strangely melancholic, and desperate.

The desperation in her eyes didn't remind him of eager warriors who sought glory but of lost souls that seek refuge in the rain. But at the same time, there was this completely unexpected sensuality to her haunting visage. Her skin was pale like almond flowers, but her cheeks were saturated with bright redness that was anything but innocent, whispering into Uzumaki's ear over and over again, _I'm here, I'm here_.

And at that moment, his fingers twitched in a single erratic move and then his right hand rose on their own accord and tapped on her full lips that were bare of any artificial color.

He felt a slight flinch underneath the tip of his finger, and her eyes widened into a look of shock but at the same time, her eyes reflected something thicker than just mere surprise that he can't point his finger on. An emotion that he can easily detect on Haruno or Karin's faces when they look at Uchiha.

Uzumaki flinched and his hand withdrew slowly. He shook his head, 'No...way.' When he glanced at her again, she was bowing her head deep, and the shell of her ears were deep pink.

When he slightly coughed to dispel the awkwardness in his chest, he gently held both of her hands and rubbed the perfume onto the pressure point in the inside of her wrists like he did the other girls.

But then his thumb brushed her pulse on her wrist, and the pad of this thumb felt the abnormal rate in which her pulse was beating. The heat emanating from her wrist diffused the perfume in the air like scattering jasmine petals. The scent pierced his nose and filled his senses.

When his bright blue eyes with golden specks watched her, she shut her eyes tight and tried to fight the blush that threatened to burn off her face.

No matter how rough-edged his personality seems, Uzumaki wasn't clueless. He stared at her face, still holding her wrists. He whispered her name in disbelief, "Hyuuga..."

But then a low, subdued cough.

Hyuuga flinched and quickly turned to see Uchiha and Deidara waiting for her after finishing their blessings with Haruno and Karin. Deidara looked just puzzled but underneath the Second Waker's calm visage, Uzumaki can feel his clear displeasure and even aggressive energy.

Embarrassed of her perpetual tardiness, she quickly withdrew her trembling hands from his grasp and bowed towards him.

To Uzumaki's horror and frankly, mild amusement, the Second flicked Hyuuga on her forehead during his 'blessing,' and the sound was clear like a knock on an aged oak barrel of wine. The girl squeaked and touched her sore forehead in surprise. When the shock diminished a little, her eyes teared up slightly but dried as soon as she learned that she was being watched by more than a hundred people.

He frankly found that sight endearing as well, but his mischievous glance and adoring smile were not unnoticed by the Second who shot him the coldest look as he casually stood by Hyuuga who was facing their audience.

Uzumaki gave him a sour expression, muttering "geez" under his breath and turned his face away. His blue eyes deepened in some unknown thought.

Seeing Uzumaki's defeat, Uchiha smirked. Then as he slightly tilted his face to her side, he spoke in a low voice that was only audible to her, "Hyuuga."

She smelt the warm, musky spice of his scent envelop her bare neck and upper chest. He whispered, "You will soon find out that revenge is far more intoxicating than the wants of the heart."

At his words, she flinched and briefly glanced at the tall First Waker who was smiling and shaking his hand with Karin and Haruno. His smile was beautiful. It never crossed her mind the possibility that she will ever be so entranced by a mere person again. In her young untried mind, he was her indisputable first and last to capture her heart so easily and irrevocably.

But what was also powerful in her heart was her desire to rise above her adversaries and have her tormentors regret as they face the truth of their own inferiority. Her pure opalescent eyes shot towards a few faces she recognized in the crowd.

As soon as they felt her scrutiny, they blushed and quickly ducked their heads. They were mentally sweating, imagining what she would do to them behind the curtains. She continued to stare down at them, 'as if...that will undo what they've done.'

She gazed up to the Second's face and nodded to show that her priority is still unchanged, no matter how much it hurts for her to bury down her heart's one true desire, "Yes..."

* * *

After the blessings, the three surviving Waker's Pearl candidates got to sit with the two Wakers in the main courtyard where the celebration was taking place.

A crowd of girls flocked near the three finalists of the Waker's Pearl game, including Hyuuga.

"Hyuuga san, I love your outfit! Your skin is so fair. Any color must look good on you."

"Your eyes remind me of fair jade. Hyuuga san."

"I hope you become the Second's Waker's Pearl. That is what you're after, right?"

Paler than usual, Hyuuga glanced around nervously, "Ex-excuse me, but...I-I would like to be by myself for a minute."

And she fled off from the courtyard. She didn't notice that the First Waker was observing her interactions.

"Huh, antisocial as ever, huh?" he muttered to himself as he took a sip from his cup.

Konan, after hearing what he just said, approached. "Uzumaki sama," her tone was cautious, "if it is okay with you, may I speak of some things that concern the Hyuuga?"

At her unexpected suggestion, his blue eyes widened in slight surprise. Konan usually didn't speak up unless something was quite important. He made a quick, brief notice

She discreetly glanced at the group of girls who earlier surrounded Hyuuga and suffocated with their flattery, "You see, Uzumaki sama. Hyuuga has been severely bullied since she entered the candidacy."

His lips quickly detached themselves from the rim of his cup, "Huh?!"

Watching the aforementioned girls, Konan noticed that they were now in the process of bitching about the Hyuuga's unfriendliness. She pointed to the girls, "I believe that the girl who just complimented her skin color used to pinch her to see if she actually had red blood. The other girl who said her eyes were like jade threw ink over her face, not so long ago."

Anger, and some guilt for his prejudice against Hyuuga, started to eat up inside the First Waker's chest. He gritted his teeth and his hand that was clasping on the cup threatened to break the delicate china into shards, "Why did nobody tell me this?!"

"You weren't interested in the Waker's Pearl game ever, Uzumaki sama."

He turned around, looking at the direction in which Hyuuga fleeted, "Ha...so that's what happened...No wonder she..."

For a second, a hazy image of a blond boy sitting alone in a swing, watching the other kids play, dawned in his mind. He shook his head in confusion. For how long did he bury down that memory in his chest and refused to dig it up? For so long, he knew.

Like moving slides, memories of Hyuuga flitted across his mind. When he told her that he knew her back in the mountains, he saw fear that was so palpable in her eyes. She lashed out against him, when he appeared as a girl, as if her life depended on it. If she has to worry about people dumping ink on her face or pinching her, then he can understand why she would be so paranoid.

An inkling of suspicion that always back peddled in his mind prompted him to ask, "Konan, does that have anything to do with Hyuuga leaving the school for three years?"

Konan started, and Uzumaki was quick to catch the change in her disposition. The First Waker's blue eyes and charismatic aura forced her to speak the truth. But slowly, his expression changed as she told him what led to her three years of exile, the candidates' misunderstanding that threatened her life, Kabuto's presumable but unproven contribution to the peer pressure, and Uchiha's role in these events.

The First Waker was quiet all throughout her explication of the reasons Hyuuga left the palace, and his moods gradually changed from focused, startled, to angry.

He clenched his fist, 'How could Uchiha have done all this? If only he came clear about his identity, then...'

But he then realized, 'But...I am doing the same thing to Hyuuga. Not being honest about who I am.'

He wanted to deny that he was basically hiding the truth about himself to the same, innocent girl. He shook his head, 'No, I'm different. I'm just trying to approach Hyuuga. I'm nowhere as manipulative as Uchiha. Yes, I'm different. I am a better choice for her.'

* * *

During the evening party, the Second was in an unusually good mood, which of course is not apparent to most people. Feeling uncharacteristically relaxed and uplifted, he even accepted a couple of drinks from the Akatsukis. As he doused some more of the potent drink in his white ceramic cup, his jet black hair tumbled down his pale face and he flashed a teeth-baring smile that sped up the heart rates of women, and even some men. It was a refreshing sight for the Akatsukis and the candidates to see him loosen up a bit.

As his dark eyes flashed with an unforeseen wave of vitality, he eyed those around him while taking a sip off his cup. His composure, relaxed poise, and the way he sat on his seat all reminded the viewers of one word: ruler.

Haruno then approached him, elegantly balancing a light green ceramic wine flask between her hands. She has changed into a shimmering champagne colored cocktail dress and long golden slits of her earrings snaked down her collarbone that glistened with some sparkles.

Her voice was like a marble spiraling down a silver tray, light and rhythmic, "Uchiha sama."

When the Second heard her, his face temporarily tensed as if she was some accosting stranger and then his features relaxed in recognition.

He opened his mouth and called her name. There was a slight, barely noticeable slur to the end of his voice. "Haruno."

She took in a deep breath as his voice hit her chest and filled her entire being like a hot gulp of warmed sake. He was not just enthralling. He was adorable as a drunk.

"Uchiha sama," she boldly placed her hand on his shoulder, "please do be careful. Your health is most important."

Still holding his cup to his lips, he glanced at the slender, manicured hand on his shoulder and then smirked as he finished up his glass, ignoring her.

He then raised his glass toward Hidan who was sitting beside him. He laughed, "Hidan, fill up my glass. I'm all for tonight."

Completely ignored, Haruno stood still and watched him hopelessly as he imbibed another cup. But halfway through his cup, he abruptly stopped as he stared at a particular direction.

Not noticing the change, Deidara smiled and offered another glass, "My lord, the night is indeed young."

Uchiha was quiet for a moment, his hand still holding the wine. Then he placed the ceramic cup on the table, and the clear liquid swished slightly.

He rose, easily towering Haruno, and placed his hand on her shoulder as he turned to Deidara and Hidan, "Actually, I think I should take upon Haruno's suggestion."

He then looked down at Haruno and lightly tapped her on her shoulder, "Thank you."

He swiftly passed by her side, his dark cloak slightly ruffling, and he left the table and the crowded side of the courtyard.

* * *

Hyuuga was examining the petals of the spring blossoms that were in bloom. Every petal seemed to be sculpted by the moonlight into perfection. Nothing was better than nature to calm her confused mind.

It has been merely two hours since she received her blessings as the finalist contender, and already those who ignored her in favor of their own survival were flattering her. Flattering everything about her, from her hair and eyes that they used to scorn, to her skills that they never believed she was capable of.

She felt queasy and sick when she saw the complete change in their attitude, so she excused herself and sought refuge in this isolated garden of flowers.

She doubted that she can ever be a social butterfly like Haruno or a commanding alpha-queen like Karin.

Her feet accidentally stepped on a lone white rose that was plucked and abandoned on the cobblestone path. Feeling pity for the flower, she picked it up delicately and touched the petals.

She brought the flower close to her nose, but a large shadow cast over her and her musings were interrupted by a quiet, masculine voice, "So, how does it feel now that your revenge is nearing?"

She turned to see the Second Waker towering her with his height and breadth of his shoulders. He was leaning over to see what was attracting her attention so much that she hasn't noticed his approach.

He slightly stumbled on his feet and almost tripped over the girl, who smelt a whiff of alcohol from his robe and hair. When his nose almost bumped into the crown of her head, he smelt the scent of jasmine and smiled. The creamy, simple flower has the most potent scent, but it is often used to cure insomnia. Just like how he viewed his little Hyuuga who helps him sleep, unperturbed by nightmares.

At his question, she felt overwhelmed. It was still hard for her to believe that now she was so close to her life long goal. Exaltation like a drug made her feel buoyant, over the clouds since she stepped forward and saw the grudged salutations of those who used to take comfort in her despair.

"I...I can hardly believe that it is coming, Waker sama. I never knew it was possible to feel this way. It's just..."

She turned slightly and looked longingly at the First Waker who was laughing and jovially swinging his arm around Juugo who tried to wiggle out of his grasp. For some reason, he looked overly energetic. She wondered if he had too much of a drink.

Mustering all her strength to tear her eyes away from the First, she nodded and whispered softly, "like a dream..."

He grabbed both of her shoulders and gently turned her to face him, "Hyuuga."

Her gaze faltered a bit but she placed her hands on his shoulders, silently asking him to let her go. Her rose dropped to the ground, forgotten. He relented, letting go of his grasp and stood back, watching her.

She picked up the rose and dusted off the dirt with all the care. "I worked so hard to reach this far. I can't let...my feelings for Uzumaki sama get in my way. I have to make my bullies regret what they've done. That is my mission, and I cannot rest until I achieve that."

Uchiha looked at her young but stately profile, as she gazed at the full moon with a faraway look in her eyes. She was made for him, because at the end she trampled her heart's whims for the colder, more arduous, and therefore more incomprehensible path of hate that only he knows. Nobody could understand the depth of hate and hurt in this pretty girl's heart, as well as him.

He smiled, his eyes glimmering as they look down at her with appraisal, like surveying the keen edge of a beautiful, priceless sword, "You can kill them as soon as you become my Waker's Pearl. You have my full permission. Nobody, including the Akatsukis, shall ever question your authority."

At his words, her gaze widened and she snapped her head toward the Second. He smiled and continued, "Or do you want me to summon them and have them beg on their knees for forgiveness before you in the torture chamber, Hyuuga?"

Her eyes widened as she tried to keep her voice steady, "Waker sama...I, I don't think I can...do that."

Uchiha felt suddenly stone cold. The intoxicating effects of the drinks wore off in a second. Her words were like an unexpected crackle of thunder.

She stared at him in surprise and suspense. 'I...have never seen that look on his face before.' He looked shocked, and for the first time, he was at loss of words. He looked at her as if she was suddenly someone he has never encountered before. It was the first time, she saw so many emotions in his face.

She just prayed, 'Please let it not be...what I am beginning to notice in his face won't be...disappointment.'

She shook her head as she stared at him like he was slowly peeling off his skin, revealing a dark hearted monster, "I-I can't kill them, Waker sama."

He calmed his nerves as he stared down at the girl before him, his big hand gripping on the cast railing of the garden fence, dangerously about to twist the metal off its hinges.

"Hyuuga," he tried to make his voice steady, "they tried to kill you. They almost succeeded. What would have happened if I wasn't there? Would you be here, in that dress, beaming, smiling, being congratulated on your newfound glory?"

They both knew, no, she would be dead. Probably so, irrevocably dead, her body disfigured by the shards of rocks at the bottom of the cliff.

"I know, but" she trembled, "I just can't...I can't..."

She just can't understand. This situation suddenly felt unreal. Why was her kind, level-headed Second Waker sama insisting that she kills off her peers like some blood thirsty demon? Yes, she has reasons for wanting their misery, but didn't he know that these girls worshipped him at his feet? Wow can he just offer their lives on a silver platter as if they were mere livestock? Was this really the Waker sama she knew all her life?

Her pearl eyes glistened, but she didn't let her tears fall because tears felt like weakness. She begged, "Isn't it enough that I...take away their dreams?"

He covered his face with his right hand and turned his back to her. She felt a slight tremor in his arm that she grasped but he pulled away.

The minute he shirked from her touch, a crowd of dark birds suddenly bursted from within the floral bushes where they slept and cried as they soared to the sky.

Her hand still in the air, she stood at him, looking at him with eyes full of shock and hurt. Because he just pulled himself away from her as if she was untouchable.

She then heard him murmur what felt like his final judgment, "You're too...pure."

He continued to turn his back to her, "But I guess I can't fault you for that, because that is what..."

Unable to complete his words, he kept turning his back to her. His fists clenched.

She was at complete loss of words. Then slowly he turned around and took the rose that she was holding in her hand. He peered at it for a while and snapped the stem till it was headless. He tucked the decapitated blossom behind her ear and looked down at her with an unreadable expression. And he left without a word.

* * *

Three girls. Two Waker's Pearls.

At a glance, one would think that it shouldn't be so hard to be one.

But to Hyuuga, the three girls were far more formidable than all the wars she has fought.

'This day is going to decide the course of my future.'

That was what she felt as she stood behind one of the wooden doors, in one of the 'prep chambers.' Her opponents are also in their own 'prep chambers' as well, waiting for the signal to fight on baited breath. She tied her long hair in a low pony tail, and she was wearing a soldier's light use armor, khaki colored with a leather breastplate and some knee pads. If she didn't have such a markedly feminine face, with her long eyelashes and pink lips, she would have looked like a teenaged male ninja with distinct bishounen looks. As she bound her wrists with a band-aid, she closed her eyes, willing her trembling body to stay still and calm. Trying to believe that her nervousness, her fear is just excitement-excitement that she can give it her all and reap the results.

All the ex-candidates and the Palace residents and employees were gathered together in the stadium, all eager to watch the final results of this six years' history of bitter feud, rivalry, and conspiracies. Of course, the Akatsukis have all sat in attendance of the battle as well. They sat next to the First and Second Wakers who sat at the highest seat that provides them the best view.

In the towering podium, the First and Second Wakers watched over the arena where the fight was going to begin. Uzumaki was sitting cross-legged on his throne, his hands tapping nervously on his knees as he looked at the wooden doors of the chambers. Behind one of those doors was Hyuuga.

The Second was sitting calmly as if he was at an opera house, watching a calm artistic performance rather than a fierce duel among the best trio. And they were all vying to be his final choice, even it is for different reasons.

Konan checked her mic and as soon as she was ready, her voice rang in the vast stage, "The final battle is to be held in a tournament style. With a fair blind vote among the Akatsukis, it was decided that whoever emerges as a winner in the first duel shall end up battling with Haruno, the most outstanding candidate of the six years' record. At the end, all the three final contestants will appear in front of the two Wakers and be either elected or dismissed as the Waker's Pearls, regardless of the results of the games."

At the unexpected news, the crowd started gasping theatrically, and the arena buzzed with sounds of excited talking.

One of Uchiha's fervent fans, Fumiwara exclaimed, "Then, then, it means whoever wins, that doesn't even matter!"

Ito, another of Hyuuga's old bullies, snapped, "No, you stupid! Even if the final winner doesn't get guaranteed to be the Waker's Pearl, it's the chance to show off her skills!"

Fumiwara responded with a knowing "O..." Then she became silent. Since she lost to Hyuuga, who she always believed was going to be beneath her, she has lost a lot of her own gusto.

Some other candidate nudged Ito and asked, "Then what if Uchiha sama...chooses Hyuuga even if she loses?"

"Shut up! Then it's done for all of us!" Seto eyed the candidate with hatred for even voicing out that possibility. "She'll never let go of what we've done."

Then they heard Konan's voice again, "Silence." When the crowd instantly ceased their chatter, she continued, "We assure you that there shall be no bias that will work against or for any of the contestants. The First and Second Wakers are simply going to choose anyone who they deem to be qualified. Nobody, not even the finalists, can challenge their final decisions."

After a pause, everyone heard her say, "Let it begin."

At Konan's signal, the wooden doors came down as the chains unraveled in a slow, predictable rhythm. Before Hyuuga even believed that she finished her metal preparation, the battle with Karin has just started.

As soon as the wooden doors landed on the sand with a heavy thud, Hyuuga raced out into the arena. Karin was already in the middle of the stage, waiting for her with a smirk on her face. Karin tossed her long red hair with the back of her hand behind her back and idly examined the end of her nails. A taunting message that Hyuuga is no match to her.

Hyuuga whispered, "Shadow clone jutsu."

 _Chwaaaa-_

Purple electrical sparks surrounded Hyuuga and the ground she was standing on zapped with circular rings of purple lightning.

The purple electricity sparks merged with purple smoke, and before everyone's eyes, there were seven Hyuugas, each standing or crouching over in different locations. All of them eyed Karin from the corner of their byakugan activated eyes.

As soon as one of them locked their gaze with Karin, all of them charged against her in blinding speed.

As she watched the seven byakugan activated Hyuugas racing towards her, Karin executed a series of hand jutsus and smirked.

 _Kuwaaa-!_

With a deafening cry that reminded listeners of hell, a goat horned giant with eyes located between the sinews of its muscles materialized out of the smoke. The giant was Karin's summon. The giant was so tall that it easily towered the height of the stadium by a head, and its long sinewy arms dragged along the sand floor. Its skin was of darkish red, like aging blood, and it had ghoulish, blinking eyes on its shoulder and even a clawed mouth on its stomach and curved thigh.

As it howled, Hyuuga saw the eye blinking on its tongue. On its face were two orbs of light that looked like beasts' reflected eyes in the night.

At Hyuuga's surprise, Karin laughed in a high pitched tone, "Huhuhu, since your eyes are your most prized weapon, Hyuuga, I prepared a special summon for you. Let me introduce you -Argos, the all-seeing messenger of the gods. Let's see whose eyes are the better pair, hahahaha!"

Deidara almost stood up from his seat. Juugo petted his parrot as he mumbled, "So it quickly became the battle of eyes. Interesting..." Meanwhile White Zetsu gnawed on his long nails, stammering "But-but...that's impossible! Argos is from another universe who invaded the Realm! How did Karin manage to wield Argos as a summoner? He should be in the underworld!"

The puppeteer Akatsuki, Sasori nodded and spoke in a muffled, distorted voice, "Because Karin was so talented in many ways, she was deployed to many of the war campaigns. She must have captured Argos during the Novo Orochimaru's seizure of the alternative universe."

Deidara balked, "Wait. Is that even allowed?"

Kabuto shrugged, "All's fair in the name of competition, isn't it Deidara san?"

Listening to all these comments, Konan shook her head, "This does not bode well for Hyuuga san."

As if Konan's words were a foreshadowing, Argos started howling into the air and landed its long claws on the group of Hyuugas.

Its claws that were shaped like a bear's paw was as big as an ordinary two story house. As the claws landed on one Hyuuga and snapped her on the ground, she coughed blood and disappeared into smoke.

Argos started howling, the dark pupils of the eyes on his various body parts shifting and darting to find the real Hyuuga.

Due to the giant's haphazard stomping and clawing, the seven Hyuugas vanished with a poof of smoke, and as soon as Argos, with its legendary eyes, spotted the real Hyuuga, it swiped at her with its lethal claws.

She barely avoided getting ripped into shred by its claws, but she didn't get to dodge its palm. As soon as she received the blow of its palm, she flew straight into the air and landed on the curved stone wall of the arena on her back.

"Kyahh! Hyuuga!" Zetsu didn't care if he started screaming like a girl. The sight of Hyuuga getting tossed like a rag doll by a 100ft monster with eyes all over its body was traumatizing.

With a pained grunt, Hyuuga struggled as she stood up from the impact of that powerful blow. Before she relied on using byakugan as her upper hand, but her illusion justus are mere child's play to the legendary monster that used to serve the immortalized deities of the past.

Seeing her distressing state, the First Waker stood up from his chair and balled his two fists, his mind was screaming 'Stand up, Hyuuga! You can't just sit there!'

The Second Waker's face was sullen as he gazed intently at Hyuuga. When she raised her head, she made eye contact with him, and seeing him watching her just made her heart flame in a new fire of determination. The years of training with and knowing him made her feel a sense of connection. There was her teacher, friend, and coach. She nodded quickly at his direction and stared hard into the Argos that charged against her.

As Argo's monumental paw sliced through the air and almost clutched Hyuuga, her eyes activated and soon she was enwrapped with a barrier of thin, diamond-shaped chakra blades.

In a second, Argo's long clawed paws were sliced into three large chunks with the diagonal swipe of her chakra blades, and the diced paws tumbled down around Hyuuga. The monster roared into the heavens in pain.

At this turn of events, the crowds cheered and Karin's face paled and her face distorted into a mask of hatred as she murmured, "That useless...!"

Hyuuga's Protective Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms boasted of its wire-like flexibility as the wall-like barrier folded around her right hand and morphed into a large, weighty sword.

With her left hand burning with the blue lion fist and the other clutching her sword, she charged toward the monster and leaped across its gargantuan body as if it was a tree.

Argos hissed and arched its back in pain as she flitted across his body as lightly as a hummingbird, slicing through his various eyes with her iridescent blue sword of chakra and fire.

Seeing that her summon was not doing well, Karin clucked her tongue and shot up into the high air, pursuing Hyuuga in her fiery chase.

Hyuuga stared down and saw Karin chasing after her, executing hand Justus, and sand pillars with thorns started shooting up from Argos' body.

The poor beast wailed in agony, and Hyuuga cannot help but feel pity for the monster whose only fault is being captured by a heartless narcissist like Karin.

As if it sensed her pity, it whispered in a droning voice, _Noble-blooded warrior, p_ _lease just end my misery._ When she stared at Argos' face in bewilderment, she saw streams of tears down the monster's eyes on its face. It said, _Slice through the eye in my forehead and then my mistress will have no need for me. I'll finally be free._

She protested "But-!" but as she dodged a sand pillar that shot up right where she was standing, the monster jerked its limbs and screeched in torment. _Please!_

She bit her lip and clutched on her sword tightly. If she continues making the monster the battlefield between her and Karin, the monster will inevitably suffer a slow, painful death. The best she can do is minimize the beast's injuries and restore its dignity and pride. If it wants to save its life from further oppression by losing its eye, she wants to respect its decision. She whispered, "I'll make this quick."

She flew right into Argos' face, and her sword pierced his large bulbous eye in the middle of its forehead. As the monster threw its head up in shock, she flew up high above its head, the stream of blood from its eye socket spun around her like satin ribbons.

Then she raised her roaring lion fist to the sky as she looked down from the top-the monster flaying its arms in pain, and Karin, standing on Argo's right shoulder.

Her light lavender eyes shone with concentration as she let gravity undertake her and descended down onto its right shoulder and slammed her lion fist down on her opponent.

As she dragged her lion fist down on Karin, they both slid down the entire length of the monster's body. Karin's attempt to burn her with a fire jutsu went astray, and soon they were leaving trails of blazing fire down Argo's body.

Argos collapsed and soon its body ignited into fire, and it was a spectacular sight. A burning mountain with ashes rising inside the stone arms of the arena. The only one who didn't find the conflagration beautiful was Hyuuga.

She thought bitterly, ''The monster could only escape its oppression through death.' Somehow the knowledge made her angry. And her anger cleared up the various noises of fears and uncertainties of her mind. She focused on her opponent who was struggling to breath clearly in the smoke.

Then Karin felt how she wasted too much of her chakra summoning the mythological beast. Then as soon as she tried to bite onto her own arm to restore her chakra, she felt a swift side-chop to her neck and her face jerked roughly to the side. Hyuuga then subjected her to the swift, numbing attack of the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms.

When Karin fell down to the ground, she tried to bring her mouth to her wrist but she can't move. Her jaw opened and shut like a gaping fish but she can't move her neck and bring her wrist to her mouth.

Hyuuga stepped forward and looked down at her coldly, "For everything you have done to me...I should've broken your teeth."

The chakra point in her jaw hinges was locked, so Karin couldn't say anything. But the way her crimson eyes rolled in desperation and then glowered at her showed her little remorse.

After a moment of silence, Konan's voice echoed in the arena, "The victor...Hyuuga." The silence continued even after the announcement.

And for a moment that was hard for those who knew her to believe, the winner, Hyuuga raised her hand and waved up at the stoic Uchiha, with the most radiant smile on her dirty face.

Deidara smirked and glanced at the Uchiha who despite his attempt to maintain his composure at all times looked momentarily taken aback.

"Aww, look! The knight in shining armor is waving at her princess! Or should I say knight with shining byakugan? Hohoho"

Even the quiet and sanest of the Akatsukis, Konan started to quip, "Uchiha sama, why don't you go ahead and blow your champion a kiss? She is after all fighting for your hand in marriag—I mean, lordship."

Morified,angry at his subordinates' hoots but at the same time feeling unsettled in a lightheaded, dizzy way, the Second Waker trembled and clenched his fists that were on his armrests.

Enjoying to torment his usually intimidating master, Deidara cooed at the sight, "Gaww, look, he is blushing! In a minute, he is gonna swoon-"

 _Bam-_

But the poor puppet master didn't foresee the iron fist the Second Waker threw on his face and knocked him out in a second before grumbling as he resumed taking his seat.

Juugo whistled. "That is one tough princess Hyuuga is fighting for."

Uncharacteristically in an acid mood, Uzumaki grunted and crossed his arm, "Tough, my ass. Mean, yes." The Second Waker took a quick note of his co-ruler's moodiness but chose to remain silent as always.

At witnessing Uchiha's thunderous blow against Deidara, Hyuuga's bright smile faltered and her waving hand recoiled and hid behind her back.

But when she saw him stare back with his intense eyes, Hyuuga lit up and smiled widely at him, waving once again.

Surprised by her continuous display of affection, he quickly snapped his face away and emphatically grunted, "hnn!" His pale alabaster cheekbones were marred with a slight dust of pink. He was sure she was just drunk with the feeling of triumph that all reservation has left her. He murmured in a husky voice, " _Baka."_

Konan was about to announce a thirty minute break through her mic that hung over her neck, but Uchiha raised his hand and prevented her, "Go right ahead to the next round."

The violet haired Akatsuki expressed her shock as well as the rest, "But...Uchiha sama, shouldn't you give some time for the Hyuuga to catch her breath? For her to fight the formidable Haruno without even a ten minute break...That will-"

His jaw clenched as his eyes stared hard into the distance, a sign of clear displeasure and warning to not cross him, "Go right ahead to the next round."

His orders confounded the Akatsukis. The First Waker looked at his former friend with bewilderment, thinking 'Didn't he want Hyuuga as his Waker's Pearl? Why is he acting so irrationally?'

Knowing that her master is not a man of much patience, Konan obliged by bowing her head and then announcing the next round to commence right away.

* * *

In the next few hours, the results of the final round-the victor and loser were clear as night and day. Haruno, the shining green jewel of the Palace, has lost to Hyuuga. She gave it her all, but she lost. After three hours of silent exchanges of blows, Hyuuga has emerged the winner.

But the Second Waker stunned the people around him with nothing more than his outstretched hand to his chosen champion-the frothy pink haired girl with eyes like sea foam.

But nobody was as surprised as the white eyed girl with midnight blue locks. The look on her face showed a rich variety of emotions, but the most telling was disbelief.

She stared at the Second Waker who barely acknowledged her as he took the hand of the Haruno who was standing next to her.

Uzumaki's blue eyes widened, "Uchiha?" He knew of the rules-the Waker can choose any of the three, regardless of the results, but this was...unbelievable and oh so unfair.

But the one who deserved the crown and the outstretched hand was standing behind, alone and confused.

Hyuuga bowed her head, her white eyes still widened in shock but too vacant to show any despair. All she could hear was the echoing hums and whistles in her ear that made her feel out of place. She felt sick to the stomach as she felt bile rose to her throat and cover her tongue with the metallic taste of disappointment.

Her very own Waker sama...betrayed her.

* * *

 _Present_

It has been an uncharacteristically warm spring in Konoha, the kind of warmth that tricks flowers into blooming prematurely. The bright showers of colors in the flowerbed brought a smile to one blue haired, white-eyed Konohan woman, and she pulled up her sleeves to gather some rose petals that she can use to make rose water or crimson cheek or lip stain. Her homemade natural cosmetics has been popular with the kunoichis and the civilian women, and she has opened a modest business that went on through the word of mouth. The truth was her most extravagant investment was the purchase of the Uchiha mansion, and she has been saving up for Sasuke so he can live independently with something else than just his commission based salary and jounin wages.

After she gathered the rose petals in her milk white apron in her garden, she sighed in contentment over the flowers and walked to the mansion porch.

But the soft wind blew and scattered some of the petals all over the courtyard, and she fretted and moved to collect those that escaped from her apron.

She started to crouch over and pick up the rose petals, but the wind kept making them elude her grasp. She was so focused on her task of picking them up that she didn't notice that Sasuke was no longer focusing on practicing his kunai shots but was watching her intently. He watched her black hair swaying by the wind, sliding off her shoulder, and revealing a glimpse of the back of her neck. The black of her hair made her neck look shockingly pale, and the way she hunched over as she turned her back to him made her look a bit like a hopping rabbit. And he realized that slowly she was distancing herself from him. Suddenly seeing her back turned as if she belonged to another world made him feel sick. He didn't know why.

When she felt the slight touch of rough, warm fingers on her cheek, her pale lavender eyes snapped to a pair of dark grey eyes that wore a look of deep scowl.

Confused at first by the meaning of his gesture, Hinata stared back at him and then as soon as the epiphany hit her-he was remembering the incident three years ago, when the Hyuugas kidnapped and assaulted her. One has even slapped her on her face and knocked her down, and it seemed Sasuke has never really gotten over the incident. Touched by his unexpectedly caring gesture, she smiled and gently put down his hand from her face.

"It's been so long, Sasuke. It doesn't bother me anymore." Her eyes narrowed like double crescent moons. Her smile has always managed to look child-like-very open and pure. He still can't believe that she was more than five thousand years old. He understood what she was referring to.

His scowl refused to dissipate as he spoke, almost meditatively, "I was weak then. But I am never going to let it happen again."

Her ash grey, dusky eyebrows furrowed, "Sasuke, I'm supposed to be the one protecting you. You shouldn't worry about protecting me-ah!"

But she inadvertently released her grip on her apron and the red rose petals fell into a red shower down her feet, as he crossed his arm across her small back and pressed her tightly to his chest. His palm and fingers squeezed into her shoulder and buried her possessively into his forceful embrace. She almost looked frail in his arms, so disparate were the breadth and height of their stature. As his long fingers dug into her shoulder, he clenched his jaw and rested his chin on her shoulder.

He then heard her slightly murmuring, "So restless...What torments you so, my young lord?" He has been clinging to her often lately as if he was afraid of something. She had not even an inkling of what may be the cause, and she wished she knew.

At her innocent question, he let out a slight shudder of a groan and nudged the shell of her ear with the tip of his nose. He didn't relax his grasp over her body.

As his face neared her's in proximity, she felt the ticklish, warm breath hitting on her neck and ear. He whispered possessively, "You're mine..."

Suddenly blood rose to her cheeks and she felt her heart beating like mad. She squirmed in his grasp but soon she panted, giving up on her struggle.

In an exasperated tone, she sought to placate him, "Sasuke...you can't go on like this. Over this...childishness."

She gasped as he further crushed her in his embrace, almost in vengeance. In punishment of her words that diminished the cause of his suffering to a childish crush. It told her that even if he was tortured with a serious bout of teenager infatuation, he was still Sasuke with his prodigious strength and lack of hesitation to use force if he wanted. She tried to ignore how comforting it felt even though he was squeezing her tight. It didn't hurt but it did make her heart swell with a powerful sense of longing that she tried desperately to shove back and reason with him the best she can.

"Sasuke, you were doing so well," she pleaded with him to go back to being just a normal boy in a small village, "I saw you with your friends in the Konohan training ground. You were with Shikamaru kun and Naruto and Neji. You looked so happy."

At the back of her mind, she thought, 'Well...as happy as Sasuke can be.' Just once as she passed by, she spied on him hanging out with his friends by hiding behind a tree. Surrounded by his friends, he would throw a comment or two when they performed some silly antic that was typical of their age. He even showed some self-restraint when it came to his annoyance against Neji when Naruto threw his arm over his shoulder. For Hinata, it was a huge relief and happiness to see him no longer brooding and angry over the Konohakagure. He deserved a chance to have an untainted, normal life, something her past master never had. She was determined to sacrifice anything so he can have that chance.

But Sasuke shook his head, his inky black hair spilled onto her shoulder, "Hinata, did you even know what we were talking about? If you did, you wouldn't..."

He remembered the conversation clearly. They were talking about the upcoming cherry blossom festival where young male ninjas profess their feelings to their crushes and gift them with a symbolic accessory of their affections-an elongated hair pin girls put through their hair. The shape of the hair needle was similar to a chopstick, and already the Konohan marketplace was filled with displays of various designs and colors. The sight of Sasuke eying the hair needles made Naruto nudge on his rib suggestively with a wink, which he repulsively slapped back. It was a hushed secret but the shape of the token was, in Naruto's rather crude terms, delivering the message- _I want to do you_.

The sweet air of expectancy was soon filled with tension when Neji gave a not so subtle, back handed remark about the appropriateness of dating someone their age and glowered at Sasuke.

Sasuke almost rose from his seat on the log and gritted his teeth, "Well, look who's talking-" The Hyuuga prick had absolutely no right to slight him when he also had-

Naruto who quickly noticed that they might engage into a fight, asked him aloud in his grating enthusiasm, _So you're going to go out with Yamanaka or Sakura chan?_

Then he evaded the conversation and they just talked about their next upcoming missions.

As he held her in his iron grip, molding her soft, little form to his hard muscled body, he sighed. If only she knew.

He spoke in a low, husky voice, "Hinata."

He felt her slightly shudder. He continued, "I want you to go to the dumb festival with me."

Her answer was an adamant "No, Sasuke." She shook her head. He and she both knew that even if the Waker's Pearl Hinata has to say 'yes,' the person Hinata is going to keep saying no.

He kept holding her, "I'm going to keep asking. This time, you're not going to do it because it's an order. You won't have that excuse anymore. You're going to do it because you want it."

If Sasuke was anything, he was stubborn.

* * *

Author's Notes: So hey...for those who feel that I was omitting the long awaited fight scene between Past!Sakura and Past! Hinata, let me tell you this. You're absolutely 100% right. I am lazy and I am sick of writing long, detailed battle scenes that are interesting enough. It is so draining and hard to write satisfying battle scenes, but I promise that I will add it someday (looks at the far distance). Oh, and those who might think the final part of the Past scene might be a typo...nope, sorry. Please don't throw rocks at me. I can explain!

If you write a loving review, that helps me post next chapters. Thank you!


	20. Chapter 20

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Author's Notes: So, I just wanted to say this for people who seemed confounded by the last chap, I have to break out some very hard news. (Swallows) The Past is strictly, strictly tragedy. Angst, hurt, drama. Everything is just gonna run downhill from here. But we have the Present, so we're good, right? (Tries to evade the thrown rocks). This IS a Sasuhina story, just for my readers to know. Again thank you for reading and reviewing! We're finally at the 20th chap!

* * *

 _Past in the Realm_

The surprise that graced the pink haired girl's face took no time in turning into pure elation. With a confident stride, she approached the Second Waker and took his hand with an uncharacteristically demure touch. Haruno batted her famous green eyes in a coy expression of her gratitude, to which the last Uchiha responded with a curt nod and moved sideways so she can stand beside him and wave at the cheering crowd of her former candidate friends.

But throughout this moment of celebration, the Second's dark eyes never moved an inch away from the Hyuuga who stared at the ground without a word. His expression was unreadable, and nothing seemed to be different about his usual icy demeanor. But as he clenched his bandaid-wrapped right hand, red blood started to seep into the white medicinal fabric. He paid no attention to his wound, but he continued to stare at Hyuuga.

Meanwhile the Akatsukis were all pale, except for Kabuto, as they looked at Hyuuga who stood still like a statue with a broken expression.

Zetsu felt the urge to pat her on her back and yell colorful obscenities, but her expression was so vacant yet broken that he knew that nothing can alleviate her pain right now.

With tears of happiness glittering in her eyes, Haruno looked at Hyuuga, and thinking that she should console her, since _she_ has won the battle, she approached her. Now that she has won the position as the Second's Waker's Pearl, she can afford being generous. Before, when Hyuuga had pinned her to the ground and offered her hand to help her, she slapped it back, mortified and angry over her defeat. She has been embarrassed about her childish display of her anger, so she was determined to be better than she was. The tables have turned, and as the Second's Waker's Pearl, she believed she had the duty to be magnanimous and merciful to Hyuuga.

The pink haired girl with the perfect posture that made her even look taller than she was glided in front of Hyuuga who was barely managing to stand.

Haruno reached out her hand, offering a mutually amiable handshake, "Hyuuga, I know that we both tried our best to reach our goals. You were really a worthy opponent. I want us to remain friends."

Hyuuga's eyes widened and she bit her bottom lip, radiating all the venom of hatred against Haruno who recoiled despite herself. Hyuuga continued to glare at her, 'Talk about rubbing salt on the fresh wound.'

When Uzumaki saw this exchange, he grimaced in disgust. Did he ever think that Haruno was beautiful? He must have been delusional. Even though he technically knew that he can't blame the sixteen year old girl for showing uninhibited glee over her longest crush, she confounded him with her complete lack of consideration for anyone, especially Hyuuga who deserved to be by the Uchiha's side. Haruno was beautiful but also unbelievably immature and self-centered.

Meanwhile thoughts whirled in Hyuuga's head as she stared at Haruno's outstretched hand. If she shakes her hand, that moment will leave an indelible mark of hurt on her memory and she would never forgive herself for not standing up for herself. If she refused to take Haruno's offer of reconciliation, then people would condemn her as a narrow-minded, peevish girl who can't get over her jealousy over Haruno and refusal to accept the outcome. She bit her lip, 'What am I supposed to do...'

Disgusted and mortified by his Waker's Pearl's insensitivity, the Second Waker stepped forward and reached his hand to pull Haruno away from the obviously traumatized Hyuuga. He gritted his teeth and glowered at Haruno as he turned her roughly by her shoulder, with murderous eyes, thinking of how he should punish the insolent girl for causing the Hyuuga the pain of humiliation. She might not be his Waker's Pearl, but who cares about social titles of mere bodyguards—she was the only thing he found worthy to think about, besides his revenge.

Haruno pouted as she spoke to the Second Waker, "Uchiha sama, I was just trying to be the open-hearted, upright Second Waker's Pearl as I should be. I don't know why Hyuuga was being so narrow minded and hostile."

His jaw clenched and his startling dark grey eyes bore into Haruno's green ones with deep malice and hatred, "You..."

Then suddenly like a yellow flash, the Sun Waker snatched away Hyuuga's trembling hand and took the surprised girl up to the elevated podium of his seat.

As he grabbed her hand, his bandaged hand quickly interlaced fingers with hers, and Hyuuga blushed, forgetting for the moment the pain and bitterness of disappointment. Uzumaki then tilted his face sideways and smiled at the pissed off Uchiha and dumbfounded Haruno.

He grinned, baring his teeth and narrowing his blue eyes in an expression that looked both sly and full of bravado, "Hey, Haruno, sorry, but I gotta hold you guys on rain check here! I'm here to tell the folks that I got a new buddy!"

He then raised both of his hands above his head, including the one that was holding her's, "Um-hum-hum! Attention, attention, please!"

Then suddenly his entire body glowed with a golden light and tongues of flames started to rise from his blond hair, shoulders, and hands like a torch of crimson, orange yellow fire. His tan skin glowed with an almost blinding white light that only appears when the temperature is out-of-the- world hot. His normally azure blue eyes were lit with an iridescent yellow light, and his pupils hosted dancing goblin fire. Hyuuga gasped and tried to jerk her hand away, in fear of burning, but strangely the fire wasn't hot but intensely warm and uplifting. Soon her body was covered with the entrancing yellow flames as well, and she stared up at the First Waker who grinned at her amazement.

Juugo whispered, "The...sage mode!"

The crowd's scandalized chatter dissipated into the thin air, and Uzumaki in his sage mode announced with his booming voice, "Thanks, guys. So, just want you guys to know, that by the divine rights invested in me as the First Waker of the Realm, I announce the girl next to me, Hyuuga, to be my Waker's Pearl."

When the crowd all stared at them, he said it again with an emphatic nod of his head, "Yup, you heard it. Hyuuga, she is now the First Waker's Pearl. The same Waker's Pearl as Haruno."

He rested his hand on his hip and made a cat-like expression of disgruntlement, "So if you mistreat her, you're symbolically mistreating me and we all know how that goes. Honestly, I'm not that uptight or keen about punishments, but the Akatsukis here are and they always make sure nobody challenges the Wakers' authority in the slightest way. So just keep that in mind. Cool?" When he shrugged, he expected everyone to nod with a dumbfounded expression on their faces and they did exactly that.

Soon a slow applaud spread like a wildfire like the mysterious flames on the First Waker's body. Flowers started to fall at the Wakers and their respective Waker's Pearls. One pretty white gardenia landed softly on Hyuuga's head, but it bursted into soft, sandy ashes because of the sage's fire that surrounded her body.

Uzumaki blurted, "Whoops," and quickly deactivated his sage mode and carefully brushed off the ashes that were on Hyuuga's midnight blue bangs.

He made a sheepish grin that didn't reach the apologetic look on his blue eyes, "Sorry about that," and he continued dusting off the ashes carefully so they don't get into Hyuuga's wide, light lavender eyes.

Her eyes widened as she stared into his face that just focused on finding the ashy particles that tried to hide between her strands.

She blushed, as she stole glimpses of his deep blue eyes. But even though she felt gratitude towards the First Waker for accepting her, she cannot help but keep glancing at the beautiful pair who were at the center of the peoples' attention.

When she saw the Akatsukis end up congratulating them, telling them how they seem so compatible, she knew that she could never forget this day when she felt so alone and confused.

* * *

In the forested training ground with the same waterhole, the Second Waker was sitting on one of the sliced grey boulders, the flat surface was perfect for him to sit down and throw some kunais. Next to him were clutters of weapons, the tips covered in mud and the sheathes beaded with water. His black hair was glued to his forehead, cheekbones, and the nape of his neck, and his dewy face was flushed with a slight diffusion of red because he dove into the icy water for almost an hour. His body smelt of mud and rusted steel, the product of an hour scrounging for the weapons buried in the waterbed. But at the same time he smelt of nice soap, probably due to his freshly laundered dark clothes that he brought with him.

Now that he has finished up cleaning the bottom of the waterhole, he was idly throwing the kunais he recovered from the depths of the waters at the nearby trees. Another dart of his kunai pierced a nearby acorn tree with immaculate precision. The sharp iron tip landed on a tiny branch shooting up from the truck, snapping the young twig away. He almost looked like he was waiting for someone.

His wrist snapped into a sharp flick as he flung another kunai, and then he heard a plaintive voice, "Waker sama…" He immediately froze and sharply looked at the direction of the voice. He looked uneasy and startled, but strangely expectant as he saw her. When Hyuuga saw his face lit up as if he had expected her, she told herself, he just wanted to get over with the consequences of betraying a little girl's trust. That was it. Nothing more-nothing less. There can be no other reason.

Even though she practiced so much in front of the mirror, she already looked like she was going to cry. She cannot count how many times she reconsidered the idea of reaching out to him, over and over. She was afraid. She had no way to anticipate how her Waker sama would act after so blatantly betraying her in front of everyone. He had hurt her when and where she least expected it. It was him who presented her with the most poignant of betrayals. But why did he come to this waterhole where they practiced for the upcoming tournament for weeks? Maybe she was so insignificant that he has dismissed that memory as easily as shelving a book.

He stared at her disheveled state with his hard onyx eyes. When she approached him, stumbling with her hands stretched, he stood up and kept watching her approaching him with unsteady steps.

And he saw her trembling hands reaching out towards him and he remained as still as he can be.

A single touch of her small hand can paralyze his movements and even kill, but he remained rooted to the spot and looked down at her impassively.

She gripped on both sides of his dark cloak and trembled, her head bowing low and dark silky hair falling into a curtain over her face. Her teeth were clenched, more in hurt than in anger.

Her grip on his dark cloak was unstable but desperate. She sighed and asked in a trembling voice, "Waker sama, why…why did you do this?"

She was like a wounded bird gasping for air as it tried to vainly beat its broken wing.

When he saw her latch on to him with her shaking hands, he opened his mouth but found it hard to say. He tried to sound as stoic and calm as before, but there was this tinge of melancholy to his words, "Because it was the right choice."

His next words lanced through her chest, the pain surpassing any of what she has experienced before. "I'm not a good man."

There he was, admitting that he betrayed her and that it was not the slip of a tongue or an instant of erroneous judgment. She thought she would find it liberating if he provided such closure. But instead she felt sick at the pit of her stomach. He deliberately refused her. Rejected her.

He continued to slash at her heart with his cold, unfeeling words, "Saving you from being my Waker's Pearl…it was the right choice. You will be demoralized. For being my Waker's Pearl, you will lose your humanity and possibly, sanity."

She raised her head to him and asked, "Why?"

He shut his lips into a thin line and sharply looked away from her and stared into the milky turquoise waters. Then she saw what she didn't notice before his ultimate betrayal. His spiky black hair has already grown down to the nape of his pale neck and his high ridged nose looked so cold that his entire face looked inhumane. The unnatural spikes of his deep, dark hair and that keen nose, and his muscular torso and wide breadth of his shoulders reminded her of the personified demons she read about in fairy tales.

Maybe that was what she has been seeing all along. A beautiful illusion interwoven by black magic. A demon with a face and body to beguile mere mortals and pulvarize their hearts and dignity with little thought.

Her voice was trembling, but she managed to not stutter, "Why are you speaking in such vague terms? What is stopping you from telling me? Waker sama, why will I get hurt from being your Waker's Pearl?"

When he refused to look at her in the eye, she asked with tears in her eyes, "Would you hurt me?"

He looked down at her, and for a moment, she thought she saw a look of pain flit across his onyx eyes.

His voice came out as melancholy and resigned, "It's better for you to be protected, Hyuuga."

Then for the first time, she felt her rage overtake her. Protected? Weak? She cried "Is that what you say after all these years?!"

She released her death grip on his cloak and defiantly raised her voice. Her eyes shone like limestones radiating heatwaves.

"You were the one who made me believe that I was capable—capable of protecting myself!" She felt hot tears streaming down her cheeks but she kept yelling at him, "But then you go on and disqualify me and prove my enemies that they were right all along. Why don't you just come clean and say that you didn't choose me because I was not good enough?"

He looked completely taken aback by her outburst, and that gave her a strange sense of satisfaction. He deserved to be shocked and thrown off balance.

He might have expected her to be completely okay with following his decisions, but she was going to show him how wrong he was.

His voice was even and measured as he looked into her opaque colored eyes that glared at him angrily. His face slightly drew nearer to her as he spoke "That is not true, Hyuuga."

What felt like the truth—her unworthiness, her insecurities— reared its ugly head and she stepped back in disgust and sadness, "You-you chose her, because I-I wasn't—"

He opened up his arms and approached her, "I didn't fail you because you were not good enough."

She shook her head vehemently and pushed away his hands. What he says no longer matters to her. Her insecurities about her abilities and personality were all coming at her at once. She doesn't want to hear fabrications, excuses coming from those sculpted, pale lips, someone whom she believed she could rely on.

She sobbed, "All I wanted was to prove them wrong. That-that I could actually amount to something. Being your Waker's Pearl was the only way I could prove that I can be better if I tried. But you...you ruined it. But I thought that there must be some reason, so I came and I asked, but you don't even grace it with an explanation."

She bowed her head low and clutched her chest. Her heart was hurting so badly, and she cried.

"Hyuuga, listen to me." His low, husky voice sounded strained, but she was just too hurt to take full notice. She even refused to look at his face. He was starting to look exasperated and lost as to what to do, but she just didn't care.

Hiding her face in her hands, she spoke between her sobs. "Why did you do this, Waker sama? Why? What did I ever do to you?"'

He didn't even know if it was her overflowing tears, the fact that he caused them, or her refusal to give him a chance to speak that gave him the hardest time the most. After gritting his teeth, the Second Waker finally lost his tight rein over his feelings and raised his voice.

" **Because that is the only way I won't lose you!"**

At his words, Hyuuga looked at him with wide eyes. Then "hph!" A loud hiccup the sound of an abruptly opened champagne bottle.

Now she was having a series of hiccups that she tried to quell by holding her breath but failed. Cupping her mouth and nose with her hands, she kept staring at him with her rib cage racking with her heavy, forceful hiccups as punishment for her hot tears. This was such an important moment for her, but her hiccups just had to ruin it.

And it was important because the Second Waker has never explicitly talked about his intentions. Hyuuga always managed to understand that he cared for her, even if his speech delivered himself as cold and dismissive, so she never asked him the question 'why' before. She believed that they had a special bond. He was comfortable with her enough to speak to her, even if it was just a few words like "It is loud" or "How are you?" and she was comfortable with his quiet way of offering his kindness.

But now things were different. The only way he could make amends to their broken relationship was for him to explain, tell her about 'feelings,' and she was not talking about the state of his mood, like happy, sad, or mad. He had to start talking about how he felt about _them._ Knowing how reclusive he is in nature, Hyuuga couldn't help but feel her heart swell like a hot air balloon. Seeing the normally stoic and unwavering man's emotional outburst like that, hearing that he didn't want to _lose her._

She blushed. She wanted to beat herself up for letting her heart easily open its door to him. He had such power over her that it scared her. But she was determined to not let him know how he had her heart at the palm of his hand.

He then took a step back and covered half of his face with his hand. She has never seen him look so flustered as he tried to retrieve his calm, dispassionate mask. He looked terribly embarrassed by his own outburst. That was definitely a new side of the Uchiha she was seeing. When he straightened himself up, her blurry, tired eyes still managed to detect the slight blush on his face.

He talked slowly and surely, "If you knew the kind of things that I demand of my subordinates, you would never see me the same way. You won't even want to get near me."

As soon as she saw the anguish on his face, she felt like she was burning her finger over fire. This was the most heated passionate response that she has ever seen in him. It was almost as if he was a different person. And if he didn't hurt her so much, she would have gladly pulled out her heart for him if that was what he asked for. And she didn't know how to handle it. The extent of her feelings for him. She turned, feeling the fire rise to her cheeks. This was it. She has to go. Who knows what she would be tempted to do if she continues seeing him, flustered, tortured, and vulnerable like this. Her feet started to take fast steps, and she walked fast enough to seem as if she was running away.

She heard him call after her, "There was no other way I could bound you to me, Hyuuga." When she turned her head, she saw him staring at her hopelessly, "That was my only choice."

She shook her head. "We had a bond," she whispered. She kept walking away, feeling more tears coming out of her eyes, "we had a bond." Her heart kept beating out of her chest as she wondered if he was still looking at her as she ran away. And she hoped for it.

* * *

Deep down he knew that she would come. He knew that if she wanted to see him in private, she would come to this waterhole.

He was willing to do anything to divert his thoughts away from the memory of staring into hurt and betrayed pearl white eyes. But ironically, where he found himself in his effort to extricate himself from those memories was the very place where he spent hours with her—the waterhole.

He has killed many , and a number of them used to beg for their lives in such manner as Hyuuga, gripping on whatever they can—his shoe, the end of his cloak, even the hilt of his sword. Then, he only felt disdain, apathy or exhilaration as he slashed their arteries with kusanagi and dyed the earth and the black of his heart with their blood.

But he has never felt any of these emotions that he was having as he saw her clutching on his cloak, bowing her head, trying to hide her tears.

And he knew, no matter how much she hated it and how much she hated him, he would do it over and over again if he has to make the decision.

Saving her from the fate of being his Waker's Pearl was the right choice. If she couldn't even kill those who plotted her death, then she certainly cannot kill off the Konohan people. Even if he bared his heart and told her the history behind his hometown and how they condoned the massacre of his family, even if she agreed to help him have his revenge, there was no way that the soft-hearted Hyuuga can slaughter an entire village and remain unscathed. She might even lose her mind like how he saw some victims of slaughter do. Other Waker's Pearl candidates had no qualms about following his orders, regardless of the ethical or moral implications. But Hyuuga was different. Knowing her, she would probably direct the blame of the Konohans' deaths to herself rather than him, Uchiha the Avenger, or anyone else, like the filthy councilmen and hokage. Haunted by the bloodbath of civilians who don't even know how to properly throw a kunai, she will insist in self-afflicting the pain of guilt and remorse. And Uchiha is having none of that. He would rather subject her to blissful ignorance and remain a betrayer who broke her heart than have her tortured both body and soul as his tool of revenge. It would be like entangling a butterfly into the barbed wires of trench warfare.

But he refused to even let her get in the way of his revenge. Because revenge was the one thing he gave up his mortality for—the blissful respite guaranteed to every human regardless of age and social status. Giving up his natural right to age and die and his own humanity surpassed any of the sacrifices he knew—sleeping out in the elements, denying himself basic pleasures like home and food, selling off his dignity over his own body for information about his brother whom he killed only to later regret.

Hyuuga was important to him, but he has lost too much to give up his revenge. He was like a grim debt collector tapping onto his abascus, calculating the days left to exact his bloody repayment. He cannot sleep in peace, knowing that those who viewed his family's death as a necessary piece to churn out the mechanics of daily village life were living on with little to no remorse. With their brothers. With their mothers. With their fathers. He just cannot live with that.

But demanding Hyuuga to understand him and his indiscriminate bloodlust was pure selfishness. It was like expecting a pure, untainted child to comprehend the corruption of the world and fend for herself.

So he doesn't expect Hyuuga to understand. How could he. She was too eager to forgive, lend a giving hand, give people a second chance over and over again, and doubt her own feelings or judgments if she happens to think negatively of a person. She would often get herself into situations where people make a fool out of her with smiles on their faces because she was so damn naive. Even then, she was the type to analyze where peoples' cruelty came from, because she believed that people just had to be attracted to goodness of the heart like fish to water. Even now, she has come to see him, giving him a chance to explain himself, asking him with humility and love why he threw her on the side for favor of Haruno.

More than anything, he wanted to grab her and still her nervous trembling in his embrace and tell her that she was going to be okay. That this is only going to be temporary, and as soon as he accomplishes his life long task, he will have her by his side again, whether Uzumaki wants it or not. The entire band of Akatsukis can rise up against him, but nothing can stop him.

But if she lifts her wet lavender eyes and asks him about his 'life long task,'…he knew he cannot bring himself to tell her that he was planning to kill off an entire village, including its innocents and children. He had absolutely no shame over his plan—being the cold-hearted avenger he was, he saw the children as guilty byproduct of the village's conspiracy against the Uchihas and they deserve to be exterminated from the face of the earth. But he doesn't want to lie to the only person who made his life mean more than his revenge. She added color to his life other than black and white and deep red.

But once he completes his revenge, he swore to that himself that he will bring Hyuuga back no matter the cost, and they will live together in some quiet place where nobody can disturb them. He was confident of his ability to provide for her so she doesn't lack anything, and he'll spend plenty of time to make up for the hurt he had caused her. Then maybe, even if she doesn't fully forgive him, she'll allow him to protect her and take care of her the way he has always wanted to. He'll give her a new name instead of that cursed surname. Something pure and lovely with a sound of music to it like a lisping of a spring wind.

But first comes revenge. His revenge against Konoha now held a new meaning. Before her, it was motivated by his static desire to avenge his brother, his parents, and his clan. But now, his revenge serves as a bridge to his new life with Hyuuga. The demise of his hometown shall serve as his Hegalian ladder to his princess on the tower. But of course, she doesn't have to see the heaps of bodies he used as steps.

* * *

The world does not easily change. That was what Hyuuga learned as she passed in the corridor in her new garb as the First's Waker's Pearl

"Pmph, see how she has embarrassed herself. After acting all sure and cocky that she will be the Second Waker's Pearl."

She could tell that she was the subject of the former candidates' furious gossip. As she walked down the corridor, she saw them gathering together in throngs. They were no longer wearing training clothes but light jade green dresses worn by the palace maids. Some of them carried buckets of water and some cleaning supplies. Those were the ones who chose to stay and vy for the First Waker or the Second's interest. They are all rivals in their new ambition to rise above their social stations but their collateral enemy, Hyuuga, has made them connect and bond in mutual hatred and jealousy.

A orange-red haired, slender girl tossed her head up, "I'm sure she has only won the final tournament because she got lucky. Uzumaki sama is cute, but he isn't so sharp."

Her dark haired, olive skinned friend with a busty figure chirped in, "Oh definitely. He's judgment of character is quite questionable. I even heard that Haruno was really sick that month! Of course, she got lucky."

Hyuuga heaved in a deep breath to calm her anger. Haruno was definitely not sick before or during the tournament. She was actually doing a lot better than when they reunited. It was she, Hyuuga the First Waker's Pearl, who improved. They don't know the kind of effort she took to improve her speed, stamina, chakra usage while perfecting her Gentle First. They don't know how many mornings she woke up before the sunrise and how many times she avoided getting cut by knives that attacked her in the ice water. They were fussing, wasting their time with nonsense, while she had to fight against temptations and her peers' abuse and slanders while trying to prove herself to the skeptical Akatsuki senseis. Why was it so hard for them to face that Hyuuga just worked really hard and she was simply taking what she worked for?

Seto concealed her lips with her sleeve to hide her snigger, "And you know what, the Second Waker probably knew it too. That she was never a strong Waker's Pearl material."

Fumiwara of course wasn't one to miss out talking behind anyone's back, especially Hyuuga, "He knew that she just wasn't good enough to serve him. That's why he chose Haruno. While for the First Waker, he..." She didn't complete her words.

Takahashi nodded while trying to not make her jealousy obvious, "Uchiha sama needs a strong-minded and competent Waker's Pearl, like Haruno. And to be honest, Hyuuga isn't really what powerful men like Uchiha sama want. She's too...weak and she lacks charisma."

"Well, birds like to flock to their kind," another shrugged, "I mean, objectively, and totally not because I am bitter about the outcome or anything, if you look at Haruno and Hyuuga, side by side, you can tell-"

Then they heard a cool voice behind them, "Pray, do tell."

Alarmed and fearful of facing the consequences of their tongues, the group of girls all quickly turned and gasped, "Ko-Konan sensei."

Konan sensei had her hand resting on Hyuuga's shoulder. Her left eyebrow quirked, and the group of girls mumbled, "Hyuuga...sama" and bowed their heads.

They would have hardly recognized Hyuuga without her khaki training clothes and low-tied black pony tail. The First Waker's Pearl was donned in a long, white traditional gown with trailing sleeves and her straight, black hair swayed behind her back. Instead of an obi or a silken sash, she wore a warm, ivory knit vest scattered with specks of pastel colored threads-the outfit was subtly colorful like Hyuuga herself. Around her slender neck was a faux rabbit fur scarf, the color of the moon. But all of this pure, creamy, ivory splendor would have been lost if it wasn't for the richness of her dark hair, and she was a sublime sight to behold. Seeing her move was like witnessing the silky movements of a black jaguar in the snowy Himalayas or plunging into the creamy top of black coffee or fingering the calligraphy on a white porcelain vase.

Of course, seeing the Hyuuga in her array and grace made her former rivals bite their lips and bow their faces that were burning in self-loathing, jealousy, and fear. At first they thought that she lost in the tournament, but the First Waker has seen favor in her and now they are completely under her power. And now they were caught talking behind her back. That punishment itself was worthy of being shut in the isolation chamber for days without food or water.

As protocol dictated, the former candidates knelt down before her on all four, their hands spread out on the ground as she passed. When she passed by, she looked down at them from the corner of her eyes, lifted her long sleeve to her lips, and her delicate brow furrowed in distaste.

Konan followed after Hyuuga who kept walking down the corridor, and the maids took one look at Hyuuga and scattered to different places, in haste to avoid punishment.

Her eyes on Hyuuga's back, Konan slightly bowed her head, "Hyuuga sama, would you like me to personally discipline those maids?"

Hyuuga's light lavender eyes fluttered, and she looked down at the ground as she lowered her voice, "Ko-Konan sensei, please do not address me with such honorifics. Just a few days ago, I was a mere student."

With a strict expression on her face, Konan straightened up, "Hyuuga sama, now things have changed. You are the First Waker's Pearl, and you must be treated with the utmost reverence as befitting of your title. From now on, you must eat differently and dress differently. Nobody should lift their tongue against you, unless it is the First or Second Wakers themselves. Not even Haruno sama."

They were striding along the parapeted stone tower walls that gave them the vantage point of the labyrinthine courtyards.

Hyuuga looked over the courtyards and spoke softly, "But...the Akatsukis were my senseis." Her fingers delicately traced the stone parapets.

Konan shook her head, "Now we are mere advisors."

The pale eyed girl's hands clenched into a fist on a stone parapet, "Konan...san."

"Yes, Hyuuga sama."

"Do you know...why Uzumaki sama chose me?" Hyuuga almost bit back her tongue as soon as the question left her mouth. Maybe this was not an appropriate question to ask Konan. Even before, Hyuuga has always found Konan to be a tad intimidating with her unreadable violet eyes and no non-sense personality. But Hyuuga has been feeling so worthless and ridden with self-doubt that she wanted to hang on to even a distant person like Konan.

Konan answered Hyuuga's question with another question, "Is there any reason to doubt his lordship's decision?"

Hyuuga shook her head, "Who am I to doubt my lord's decision? It's just...I'm afraid that by seeing me, the people of the Realm will question his judgment. Already, the maids are speaking of me in such...degrading terms. It is clear they view his choice to make me his Waker's Pearl as a compulsive move affected by trivial emotions. I don't mind them insulting me. But for them to think so low of him, that is what keeps me up at night. How dare they perpetually compare him to the Second Waker."

Konan smiled when she saw the fury on her pale lavender eyes. It seemed that the heart of the First Waker's Pearl is not always soft, which is a good thing.

The purple haired woman bowed her head, "You are the embodiment of the First Waker's power and authority in the Realm. I understand that you have a soft nature, but do remember that if anyone insults you, that is equivalent to a full-on insult to Uzumaki sama. Also, if such demeaning rumors reach his ears..."

At hearing such possibility, Hyuuga snapped her gaze to Konan. Her tone was low and tense, "I can't bother Uzumaki sama with such trivialities."

Hyuuga then turned her all seeing, pearlescent eyes to the courtyard and she saw several of the maids who just cowered in front of her as soon as they got caught in their gossip, "Konan san."

The Akatsuki dutifully answered, "Yes, Hyuuga sama."

"What was the date of the tournament?"

Konan gave her a slightly quizzical look, with a tilt of her head, "It was the 13th of this month, Hyuuga sama."

Hyuuga icily spoke, "Give them thirteen days' worth of rice milling to complete in a week and have them wear inscriptions of every insult they have said."

Her pearlescent eyes landed on Konan, "And if they want to leave my quarters in favor of servicing somebody else, do respect their wishes."

Konan stared at her stunned, "But...wouldn't they all flock to the Second Waker sama?"

Hyuuga sighed gently and hid her full lips with her long sleeve, "If that is what they want, I don't think I should stop them." She then held out a hand towards a yellow butterfly that landed on her finger and smiled with mischief. She can only imagine how irate the Second Waker would be at the influx of his pesky fans coming at his service. Konan bowed her head before turning to follow Hyuuga's first order as the Waker's Pearl.

* * *

In the second floor foyer of the Palace's administrative building, Hyuuga was carrying some paperwork she had to take to her private office.

Then a soft voice called her, "Hyuuga sama,"

When she looked back, she saw one of the palace maids who were irrelevant to the Waker's Pearl's game. She looked young, perhaps a little younger than her. The maid bowed and handed an ivory envelop with a red wax stamp the shape of the blazing sun.

"Hyuuga sama, a letter for you."

She nodded and took the envelop, and the girl bowed before scurrying off. She opened it, and a slight smile reached her lips at the unexpected sender.

It was Ko and Sara.

The letter was full of affectionate messages and congratulations for her being the Waker's Pearl. She didn't tell them that she became Uzumaki's Waker's Pearl, not Uchiha's. She didn't want to be verbally reminded of Uchiha's betrayal anymore, even if her mind kept wondering about her previous encounter with the Second Waker at the waterhole. Inside the envelop were also two tickets to a famous onsen spot that takes an hour to go on a summon animal.

In the letter, Sara wrote _Hyuuga sama, I went to the onsen around the capital's outskirts, and I kept remembering how we would go to onsens together and have tea. I remember one time when I saw you looking at some girls who came with their friends, and it broke my heart to see my kind, angelic sweetheart to have nobody to go to onsens with, except her old auntie. But now that you are back at the Palace, I am sure you must have made a lot of friends, because you're a kind, sweet, little girl. I have sent you two onsen tickets that you could use to go with your best friend! Please send us a picture of you and your friend at the entrance of the onsen place, so we could know that you are doing well! We love you, and congratulations for being the Waker's Pearl. We're so proud of you._

She almost teared up after reading the letter. Then she held out the two onsen tickets with its picture of green mountains and flowing hot spa.

She looked at the ticket contemplatively, "Hmm..."

* * *

The blond girl gave her the most comical expression of surprise, "EH?!"

"Wait, wait a second," she waved her hands at her, "You want me to-to go to the onsen with you?" She blurted out, "Why?"

Hyuuga closed her eyes and took a deep breath in. It was a long story, and she feels vulnerable talking about Ko and Sara's concern for her to the blond, but if that is what it takes, then she has no choice. She looked at the ground and hid her hands behind her back, "So...there is this couple who took care of me while I was gone for three years. They're worried that I might be getting ostracized, so they sent me two onsen tickets. They even specifically asked for a picture of me and a friend in front of the onsen place." She lifted her light lavender eyes as she asked tentatively, "Can you... go?"

"Uhhhhh," bullets of sweat went down Uzumaki's face. His frenzied thoughts started to run in circles, 'Shit, this is why she was looking for me.' When he saw Hyuuga going around the palace, stopping every maid and guard and asking them if they saw a "tall, blond girl with tan complexion, blue eyes, and whisker marks," he was right around the corner. Afraid of getting his cover blown, he quickly turned on the cutsie jutsu and pretended, very unnaturally, to have bumped into her by coincidence. Sweating profusely, in oversized training clothes, he leaned on one of the pillars and waved at her, "Hey~Hyuuga sama, What's up? You've been looking for me?" But now he saw that he just jumped from the flying pan and leaped into the fire.

When she saw the hesitation on Uzumaki's face, she bowed her head lower in dismay. She thought, 'I should have known...Nobody my age wants to hang out with me. Especially since they think I became the Waker's Pearl because Uzumaki sama pitied me.'

But she didn't want to pressure the blond girl, the only one she can think of that is closest to being a 'friend.' In reality, they are just acquaintances, but Hyuuga was willing to grasp at straws. She sighed, "If you don't want to, it's okay. I understand." She weakly nodded as she spoke of her alternative plan, "I was thinking that if I don't get a friend to come with me, I'll just do a clone jutsu and dress up my other self differently."

"Ahhhh, that's so sad though!" The blond balked at Hyuuga's extremely sad, but strangely cute plan. Just imagining Hyuuga walking by herself to the onsen place with a downtrodden demeanor and dress up her clone with a sunhat and take a selfie before seeing her self-created friend go "poof"...It was the most adorable imagination he had in a while. As well as most depressing.

"Umm, if I go..." Uzumaki scratched his cheek with his index finger, "can you promise me something?"

At the blond girl's unexpected change of mind, Hyuuga's face lit up with hope as she suddenly turned and gave her full, undivided attention.

Uzumaki blushed, a bright coral red blush diffused over the bride of his nose, as he spoke in a velocity of light, "Can we wear towelettes in the water?" He quickly covered his burning his face with both of his hands.

Hyuuga blinked at Uzumaki's unexpected request. Then a knowing smile spread over her mouth as she went "Ahh..." She emphatically nodded her head, smiling brightly like the sun, "Of course! Of course, if that's what you want!" Her eyes were like amethyst gems that were shining under the sun. It was her first to ever have a girls' hang out time!

And with that, Hyuuga asked for a weekend break to the First Waker and after getting his written permission, she left the Palace with 'Yuzumaki chan' who looked strangely uncomfortable, jittery, and feverish during the travel.

* * *

The smell of the spring was in the air and the woodland nymphs were out to play. That was what at least Hyuuga expected as February was almost over. But the travel to the onsen was full of snow and gusty wind that carried feathery snowflakes, some with enough solid form to look like hail. The wind made it hard for her to look up at the grey sky for more than five seconds without being completely bombarded by the falling snow. She felt like tearing up because the wind kept slapping at her face. Even though walking was arduous in the cold and snow, the anticipation of dipping her body in the hot mineral springs helped her trudge through.

Seeing the usually outgoing and vivacious Yuzumaki chan so skittish about going to the onsen felt out-of-character, but she told herself that not everybody is comfortable to a public bathing and spa resort. It even took Hyuuga several days to get used to going to the public bathhouse and spa resort with Sara, and afterwards she didn't mind spending her recreational time relaxing in the hot waters with complete strangers as long as they are women.

'I have to thank Yuzumaki chan for still agreeing to come with me,' she thought. 'I will take really good care of her, so she can feel more comfortable. I have to understand that this might feel very exposing to those who aren't well-acquainted with onsens.'

Finally they arrived at the hot sulfur spring spa resort and checked in. The clerk gave them two orange suits and two towels, one small enough to wipe their hands and another bigger bath towel.

The clerk said in a chipper voice, "Here you go, ladies! The changing rooms for you will be to your right. We offer hot mineral onsens AND sauna rooms with various salt chambers. Please don't forget to wear your orange suits when you go to the co-ed sauna rooms! Oh, I see that your ticket includes private baths! Would you like to have private baths for yourselves or enjoy the public hot springs?"

Hyuuga took a glimpse at Uzumaki who looked even more sweaty and at unease. The midnight blue haired girl smiled and nodded at the clerk, "We would like the private baths, please."

The clerk handed them keys to their lockers and private onsen charters, "Yours is an outdoor terrace spa called, 'Pear blossom.' It is very beautiful, ladies."

Then Uzumaki dashed to the locker and when Hyuuga followed him to the spacious locker room, he was already in his new spa outfit-orange top and orange pants. Other ladies were in the midst of changing. Some drying their hair. Uzumaki was anxiously averting his eyes and acting even more theatrical than usual, she noticed. Sweating, Uzumaki waved his hand to Hyuuga who made a quizzical expression, "I just really really feel like socializing in the sauna rooms before going into the bath! You can go ahead if you want!"

Hyuuga tilted her head to a side in confusion, "You...aren't going to join the bath with me?"

Averting his blue eyes from Hyuuga, Uzumaki kept shaking his hand as he talked rapidly, "Yeah, yeah, I mean, nope! I'll, I'll join you later! I just really want to check out the cool Himalaya Pink salt rooms that they have in the sauna section!"

Hyuuga felt a slight pang of disappointment as she was expecting to enjoy the hot waters with Uzumaki. She offered, "Then I can join you-"

But Uzumaki quickly interceded, "No, no, no, you should go a head to the spring! I promise I'll get there soon!"

Hyuuga whispered, "O...kay," as she saw Uzumaki race off to the exit of the locker room and head to the direction of the co-gender sauna rooms.

She sighed as she stripped herself of her baggy, heavy clothes and folded them neatly and deposited them in her locker space. Several young girls glanced at her body with subtle appraisal and then quickly minded their own business such as chatting with their friends, applying lotion to their bodies or taking meticulous care to drying their hair. Like the girls, Hyuuga also eyed some tall, lean girls and bodacious women in their nudity and then quickly gathered her towel and looked at her reflection in the many mirrors.

Contrary to some peoples' belief, Hyuuga feels completely at ease when she takes off her clothes in the women's locker room. There was something very connective in the moment of all the women, regardless of age or social positions, shed their clothes and walk around without a care in the world. It took some time for her to appreciate such connectivity. The experience also makes her a lot less self conscious. She mused, 'It would be nice to share such moment with Uzumaki chan, but I can't force it upon her.'

When she saw several girls laugh as they dry each other's hair, she felt a sudden pang of longing and loneliness. It was hard for her to admit even to herself that she was hoping that she can have that kind of companionship with Uzumaki. She wondered, 'Does Uzumaki chan want to be friends with me too?'

She wrapped her pale, naked body with her bath towel and headed to the exit and went to the opposite direction. With the assistance of one of the female workers, she arrived at her private onsen charter, "Pear Blossom."

It was a small, elegant outdoor charter surrounded with tall wooden fences and pear trees. The fruit trees' dark boughs were heavily laden with puffy snow that looked like tiny pear blossom buds. In the center was a hot onsen pool with steam rising to the pear tree branches, melting the snow bit by bit. There was a small table with a wooden bench that had two big bath towels in case there was any need.

Then she unwrapped her towel around her and dropped it to her feet. She carefully dipped her foot into the hot spring, and satisfied with the temperature, she carefully leveled herself to the bottom of the pool. Sighing in the gratifying heat, she submerged herself up to her neck in the pool and relaxed. She didn't forget to slightly dip the little hand towel in the water and put it on the top of her head as a lot of women do in the onsens. She has no idea why they do it, but she likes the slight cooling effect.

Time has slipped but Uzumaki was still not coming to the Pear Blossom room. Wondering if she got lost, Hyuuga decided to go look for her friend.

She wrapped her body around with a towel and went back to the locker. No Uzumaki chan.

So she changed into the orange uniform and went to the co-ed sauna room. And there she saw the blond girl with whisker marks, but she wasn't alone.

"Aww, are you sure I can take this?"

"Of course, Naruko chan, we're almost like sisters now!"

Hyuuga's light lavender eyes widened as she saw Uzumaki laugh and at complete ease with a group of girls by the cafe counter that sells snacks. They were laughing and chatting as if they've known each other their entire lives. In Uzumaki's hands, there was a tiny straw basket with some boiled eggs. It seemed that one of the girls has taken a favor to the bright eyed blond girl with the bubbling personality and gave her some. It was soon clear to Hyuuga that Uzumaki had this instant magnetism for not just men but for girls as well.

When Uzumaki caught sight of her, he made a wide spread grin and waved his hand holding the drink as energetically as he can without dropping the tea. The girls who were surrounding him turned over and looked at Hyuuga with wary gazes of assessment. Already she can feel their silent question "Who are you?" and she felt strangely uncomfortable. She felt like she was intruding in the girls' fun time.

Retreating a few steps back, Hyuuga bowed her head and then turned back. She knew that she was being rude, but seeing Uzumaki suddenly so happy and comfortable with complete strangers...She pondered the contrast between Uzumaki who was nervous and fidgety at the beginning with her and the Uzumaki who is having the time of his life with the girls.

She went back to the locker and changed her clothes again. All in a glum mood. When she went back to the Pear blossom onsen room, Hyuuga was strangely unmotivated to enjoy the welcoming warmth of the spa and instead sat on the far right side of the bench and stared into the water. She felt glum and grumpy.

* * *

As he stashed the boiled eggs and his orange suit into his locker, he grumbled aloud, "Shhsh, those girls. Good riddance, they finally let me go."

Technically, it was his big fat mouth's fault. When he was pondering what to get for Hyuuga at the snack corner, a group of girls came up to him and asked him where he was from and he accidentally slipped out that he was from the palace. It went like...

"Taro tapioca, I bet she'll love that!" The light purple pudding reminded him of the color of her eyes. 'But,' he pondered, 'it probably isn't a good idea to go like, 'hey, I got this because your eyes are the color of purple taro pudding, just prettier.'

One of the girls standing by eyed him curiously, "You've never had this? It's so popular in the capital!"

"The place I live has strict regulations, you know? Haha. One time, someone tried to poison Uchiha with taro and-"

"UCHIHA? The SECOND WAKER? You mean you came from the PALACE?!"

"Oh my gawd, did I hear 'the Palace?'

Soon the girls all went goo-goo gah gah and harassed him about the First Waker and the Second Waker, and they took so much of his time that he wanted nothing more than to bolt out from the sauna room. No matter how polite he was or how well he put out his 'annoying blond bimbo facade,' the girls were persistent and they made it clear that they weren't going to let him go unless he promises that he'll see if there is any opportunity for them to see the Wakers up close.

When he allowed them to write their phone numbers on his arm, they finally let him go. When he tried to rub off their numbers off, it was too late. It was permanent marker.

"Wow, just wow"

He glared at his locker, "And who asked for boiled eggs? I wanted the taro pudding!"

He growled as he wrapped his naked body with a towel and stomped toward the Pear Blossom onsen in a very unladylike gait.

When he slid the door open, an instant whiff of hot steamy jasmine bombarded his senses and beyond the mist, he can see a silhouette of a long haired woman sitting on the bench.

'Act natural, act natural, act natural, act natural,' Uzumaki repeated his inner mantra as he stepped nervously over the threshold, 'I'm a girl, I'm a girl, I'm a girl.'

But when he saw her, he felt a giant lump rise to his throat and an urge that completely shattered his inner mantra as easily as a child breaking a sand castle. Thanks to the steam rising from the mineral spring, her almond petal skin was flushed to a lovely pink, and her dark, midnight blue trees stuck to her ivory shoulders. A white bath towel completely covered her torso to her thighs but offered appealing glimpses of her shoulders and calves and her cleavage.

She was gazing at the water, so he had a clear look at her profile. She had super long lashes that cast shadows over her moonstone eyes that had a sad, pensive look. A moon child. Fairy. These were some of the words that were conjured to his mind.

Uzumaki really wished that he could see her and be with her at this moment at another state, not as her silly female friend with pig tails. He would love to take advantage of this romantic setting, but damn his luck and bad timing and choices. He cursed his past choices but at the same time thanked them for the glorious sight.

Bright red at his face, Uzumaki stammered, "Umm, Hyuuga, I...umm..."

When she looked at him, her pearlescent eyes widened as she waited in anticipation of his words. But he was a blubbering mess.

As 'Uzumaki chan' reverted to his completely nervous, agitated state, Hyuuga's eyes lowered in sadness and she shifted her gaze back to the water.

Not knowing what to say, Uzumaki decided to just 'do' something. He took careful steps over the moist tile floor and sat on the bench, careful to not get too close to her lest she becomes suspicious. He sat on the bench, and his legs slightly spread apart and he bent his upper body over as he rested his elbows on his knees.

But as soon as he sat on the bench next to her, she rose from her seat.

"Umm, Uzumaki chan."

He lifted his face and looked up at her. She was avoiding his gaze and she took a few steps away, toward the direction of the exit.

Suddenly a cold feeling gripped his gut mercilessly. Something didn't feel right. It was as if she was struggling to slip off from his grip like sand or moonlight.

She continued, "Uzumaki chan, th-thank you so much for coming with me. Bu-but...you don't have to...an-anymore."

* * *

She bit her plump bottom lip as she fidgeted with her fingers. It was clear that Uzumaki chan would be better off with her type of people who are also 'popular, strong, and pretty.' Now that she thought about it, it was near to impossible that someone like Uzumaki would want to spend time and be friends with someone like _her._

Hyuuga tried to not look into the shocked expression on Uzumaki's face. She thought, 'it is better to cut off something if it's going to hurt me in the end.'

She clenched her eyes shut as she remembered Haruno, the very proof that it is better to cut things off before it hurts you. A new face, with a cold, sharp nose and long lashed dark eyes emerged at the back of her head, but she shook her head to dispel that image.

"I-I really appreciate...you taking time for me. I know it wasn't so fun because...I'm no fun, but...thank you."

She interlaced her fingers together as she bowed her head, "You-you don't have to feel...like you _have_ to hang out with me anymore, so...I'll start going."

"Bye." She uttered that single word before walking toward the exit.

Right when she laid her tiny pale hand on the handle of the sliding door, she heard a voice. Foreboding and rife with latent warning.

"Take another step, and I swear."

When she glanced behind her, she saw the blond girl's hands gripping on her bony knees and a shadow cast over her usually sunny features, beneath her blond bangs. Uzumaki chan was angry. Very angry.

"I can stand people who hate my guts, but there's one thing I don't deal with, and it's what you're doing right here, called 'mind games.'"

Hyuuga's brows furrowed as she saw for the first time, Uzumaki chan's unexpected anger.

Uzumaki chan continued, "If you don't like me, why don't you just say it? Just don't act the poor victim role who's doing me a great service and has my best interest. And what a great service that is. For a moment, I thought you _wanted_ to spend time with me and enjoyed it even." He scratched the back of his head and sighed in frustration.

Hyuuga has been feeling angry a lot these days. She raised her voice slightly, "I'm not...acting the poor victim role." And she actually did enjoy Uzumaki chan's company. It was unfair to accuse her of such things.

Uzumaki chan then rose to his full height. It was then Hyuuga vaguely wondered, 'Was...Uzumaki chan always this tall? Did she...get a trim?"

The blond girl, not noticing that his jutsu was wearing off, raised his voice along the petite lavender eyed girl, "You go off and treat relationships like some disposable and you expect me to take it like it is nothing?"

"Because relationships ARE disposable!"

Hyuuga felt tears rise to her eyes and her cheeks and chest burn with fury and frustration and something deeper-hurt, "Isn't it a good thing that relationships can be disposed?" she added in spite, "And aren't you being way too confident? How can you be sure that this will work out?"

Then thick silence fell between them. A pause. And that was when Hyuuga recognized the weight of her bitterness. And how tired she was to the point that she believed people were just sources of hurt to each other, giving hurt in exchange for getting pain.

But she froze as she heard him say, "Wow...that just really hurt." And it was a very familiar voice. A voice that has no place in the private onsen.

When Hyuuga raised her face, her light lavender eyes widened as they took in the sight before her. Tall. Yes, Uzumaki chan is quite tall for girls, but that was...and those broad shoulders and short fuzzy blond hair...

Her trembling hand rose to quickly muffle her scream as she whispered, "Oh my goodness..."

The First Waker looked down at himself, his towel that was wrapped around his 'jutsu cleavage' has slipped to his waist, revealing the V shape of the part where the ab muscles connect to the pelvic region.

"Hyuuga, I-"

But before he can get his words out, Hyuuga escaped the 'Pear Blossom' and dashed out into the locker room, changed into her clothes, and departed the onsen resort like a silver whirlwind.


	21. Chapter 21

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Author's Notes: So there is going to be a long, angsty chapter. For those who think ch. 20 was too hard, I have an even bigger surprise (laughs pervertedly while flashing out of a trench coat-a long, fat, hideous, dramatic, angsty content) I apologize if the chapter is too long and feels rushed and summary-like. I do that when I am in the mood to write a bunch, and right now I really want the plot train running. I will 100 % probably go back and update the chapters, add more scenes and descriptions and etc, but that is the future. Right now, I need to get the story going on. Also this ch. is **M Rated** for **lemony themes and violence** Buckle up, baby buttercups.

* * *

The First Waker almost had a heart attack, but he managed to calm down enough to blurt out "What?"

Hyuuga had to repeat her request. She expected it. What she was asking for is akin to suicide. But she lowered her long lashed eyes to the ground and spoke with remarkable calm, "I would like to go to Konoha."

Before the First Waker's eyes, he saw moving screens that are frequently featured in horror movies-chakra sucking clone armies, carnage, crows crying in the battle field, Hyuuga getting kidnapped and experimented for her byakugan. There are just the few of the myriad of possible scenarios that can ensue in this time of war.

He shook his head frantically and swallowed the lump in his throat. No matter what, he just had to persuade his Waker's Pearl to give up her plan.

He gripped her two hands with his hard, "Hyuuga, if this is about what happened in the onsen, I am really really sorry."

Her lilac colored eyes widened in surprise, but she remained quiet. Her quietness made him even more nervous to the point that he started rambling.

"I was stupid and dumb. I should have come clean about my real identity, but I didn't know the right time to bring it up. I thought I could get close to you if I become a 'girl,' but it didn't take long for me to realize that it was a really dumb move."

Hyuuga merely said "Ah" and tried to withdraw her hands from his grasp which tightened desperately. Her calm expression didn't even show anger but a little embarrassment. There was a slight pink blush that spread over her cheeks.

Not knowing what to make out of her response, he felt a surge of anxiety and he nervously licked his drying lips, "No matter what I say, I was dumb. Please forgive me."

If she wanted, he was willing to kneel down before her and tell her how stupid he was and apologize no matter how long it took.

Hyuuga looked down at the First Waker's bandaged hands that wrapped around hers and seemed to consider his plea for a moment. But she shook her head with a look of regret and sadness, "I...understand that you didn't do it with any ill intentions, Waker sama. But this has nothing to do with that. I...would really like to go to Konohakagure before the novo Orochimaru forces start their invasion."

His hands that wrapped arounds hers tightened into a warm grasp, "That's exactly why I don't want you to go." He grimaced at the thought of danger to Konoha and Hyuuga. He talked as if he was trying to explain to a child, not patronizingly but with patience and gentleness, "the Novo-Orochimaru forces are already infiltrating into the different alternative universes to ambush the Realm. They aren't expanding in an alarming rate, but it is wise to be careful."

Uzumaki has been firm in his refusal to grant Hyuuga permission to travel to the land of the mortals. Even though the novo Orochimarus were getting close to Konoha, he can't decide such things as compulsively as he had done before.

He lowered his head and tried to level his blue eyes with Hyuuga's, "Trust me. I want nothing more than to rush to my hometown and help my people, but I can't just leave my post in the North."

Hyuuga finally lifted her eyes up to him, with a look of innocence and earnestness that can easily bring down peoples' defenses, "Of course, Uzumaki sama, you must never leave the North. That is where the Novo Orochimaru forces are expanding from. But Konoha is vulnerable. The enemies are coming from all places. So please send me."

When she saw the look of hesitation in his knitted light brows, she spoke with even more earnestness, "I'll wait for you, Uzumaki sama. I'll never leave Konoha till you come." With a heartbreaking gentleness, she begged, "I believe in you, so please..."

He stared into her light lavender eyes for a moment. They were mesmerizing, in a very natural, unforced way. If she was the artful coquette type that knew how to use her eyes, she would have been less dangerous. He could see through manipulative use of womanly whiles but Hyuuga wasn't the artificial type who uses sex appeal to get her way. Even without having any practice of art of seduction, Hyuuga was naturally alluring like a fragile looking flower, delicate and seductive.

His grasp on her hands lessened as he realized that he had no power to resist Hyuuga's plea. He opened his mouth, "I'll grant...you permission. But under one condition."

* * *

Hyuuga lowered her long lashed eyes to the marble floor as she repeated her request,

"Please send me to Konohakagure."

For what felt like the millionth time, the Second Waker answered "No." He was surprised at first to hear that Hyuuga has decided to come to his private office, but he wasn't so happy when she voiced her request.

His dark, elegant eyebrow rose in question, "Did you obtain the First's permission?" His brows knitted in consternation as he stared at Hyuuga who stood in salutation.

She spoke in a calm tone with a hint of defiance, "I have."

Hyuuga was convinced of her need to leave the Realm. The Novo-Orochimaru forces are hovering their claws over Konoha. The First and Second Wakers' hometown was in danger, and she couldn't just sit down in the palace, drinking tea and admiring flowers as if everything is fine. Everyone in the Palace knows that the Wakers' enemies are working to hold their home village as hostage.

She knew that she was being manipulative, but she held the 'onsen experience' against the First Waker who gave into guilt and granted her permission on a sole condition: that she returns if he cannot sense the connection between their chakra waves. As the Wakers and the Pearls are connected by blood oath, they can communicate amongst each other through chakra no matter the distance. But if a Waker's Pearl loses her connection to her masters, it means that she is in fatal danger or already dead.

When she told him that Uzumaki relented, Uchiha retorted by gritting his teeth into an almost feral snarl as he splayed his hand over his desk, "You don't have my permission." His tone was decisive and final, daring her to go against him.

She raised her iridescent lilac eyes towards the Second Waker, her voice raised a pitch higher than usual, "It doesn't make sense that as the Waker's Pearl, I am not allowed to join the war and protect my lords' hometown."

With a heavy sigh, Uchiha turned his attention to his load of paperwork that included invoices of weaponry and his armies' crops, "Both of us agreed to not involve our Waker's Pearls unless the situation becomes dire. Black and White Zetsu is keeping post at Konoha. There is so need for any of you, you or Haruno."

She balled her fists by her side, but she kept her voice as low and moderate as she can. He has hit her weakest spot. "This isn't about Haruno, Uchiha sama."

"I still forbid." His cold voice cut through the air.

She still refused to budge, "Uzumaki sama said I could go."

She wanted to ask him. How can he act as if the livelihood of his hometown didn't matter at all? She assumed that he might not be too fond of his hometown, but isn't it natural to feel some kind of affinity to the place you were born? Even if she couldn't forgive what her people had done to her when she was young, she wouldn't turn a blind eye to her endangered hometown and its new inhabitants. Sometimes she wondered if the Second Waker has ever valued anything other than his power or had a heart for innocent peoples' lives.

His response was brutal. "It's because he's an idiot."

"He is not." She was quick to defend her master.

"He is." And he raised an eyebrow at her before looking down at his papers, "I'm sure your friend 'Yuzumaki' can attest to that."

She felt hot in her face. Changing the subject, she tried to persuade him, "I only have to stay in Konoha till Uzumaki sama comes to solidify the fortress. It should only take two weeks."

His jet black eyes looked thoroughly unimpressed and unforgiving, "Your argument that it shouldn't take long for Uzumaki to come and lend his support is naive. War is full of complications. I thought I taught you the dangers of confusing foolhardiness as bravery."

Stunned by his words, she stared at him wide-eyed and pale.

For a moment, they stood staring at each other.

He sighed as he closed his eyes and shut massaged the side of his temples and then looked straight into Hyuuga, "Traveling long distance outside the periphery of the Realm and venturing into the alternate dimension is too dangerous. It's been six years since you were at the mortals' land. There might be unexpected side effects. What if you can't wield your chakra properly and the enemies capture you?"

She bit her plump bottom lip till she thought it was going to bleed. In a biting tone, she said, "Any strategist would station his trusted right wing at such vulnerable post. But I forgot." She turned her back on him as she stalked away, "You never held trust in my abilities. I...I will show you that my training isn't in vain."

She heard him call her name behind her, but she shut the door to his office and left.

* * *

Exactly an hour later, the Second Waker found Uzumaki and Hyuuga in the main courtyard. She was carrying a heavy backpack full of basic necessities and weapons for her travel to Konoha. At her feet was a beautiful peacock with iridescent blue and emerald green plumage and an exotic crown on his head. The regal bird cooed as he nuzzled to her bare leg like a dog, trying to brighten up his mistress's dour mood.

When Uzumaki heard that she was going to bring her pet bird with her to Konoha, he was sure that the thing was just going to be a hindrance. "That thing is too pretty and useless in the heat of battle. Can it even fly?" He crossed his arms and shot an incredulous look at the pretty bird.

Hyuuga blushed, "He...he can fly, Uzumaki sama. He's my summon in training. He didn't show any special abilities so far, but...I believe he-he's a late bloomer."

At her peacock's cuteness, Hyuuga can't help and smile as she stroked his smooth head. From afar, Uchiha heard her say, "We'll try to have fun as we go, okay?"

The Second Waker grunted.

Unknowing of the Second's gaze, Hyuuga chattered along Uzumaki who was walking her to the main gate, "Juugo san was so kind to give us some antibiotics and fresh sunflower seeds."

Seeing them from a distance, Uchiha remembered when her pet was still in an egg like yesterday.

 _It was a month after their conflict in the waterhole when Uchiha has got to see the First Waker's Pearl up close and alone in one of the secluded garden compounds. Four o'clock in the afternoon, and she was sitting on a stone bench, her head hanging heavily as she cradled something in her folded hands. When he walked up to her, he saw what she was holding so preciously-a white egg with a slight yellow hue, the size only slightly bigger than those hatched by hens. When she lifted her face up to him, her light lilac colored eyes were full of tears and her face showed evidence of fresh weeping. His eyes glowed with red, and he saw right away the absence of life in the egg. The egg was dead, and Hyuuga was vainly trying to warm up the empty shell with her little hands._

 _But it was too late. For all her love and tender care and prayer, she cannot coax the warmth to return back to the hollow egg._

 _Uchiha has heard from Konan that Hyuuga's pet egg was discovered in the heaps of ashes that are remnants of the monster she battled during the tournament, Karin's summon, Argos. According to Konan, Hyuuga was keen on taking care of the egg that mysteriously survived the fire that burnt the thousand eyed monster of legends._

 _Even without hearing the details, he can imagine the kind of solace the egg must've brought to the emotionally tired and burdened girl. After her heavy duties as a Waker's Pearl, she must've rushed to her chamber and see her egg waiting for her. She might even delicately trace the shell, make sure it is warm enough until she smiles in content and excitement. And whisper sweet words of love and promises to the faceless egg. Unlike him, Hyuuga had a natural inclination and an amazing capacity for love, especially giving love. Even after all the lies and hurt both Wakers caused her (he heard about the 'onsen' scene from the drunk dobe and he has spited him since), Hyuuga thrived in giving love but the cold, wealthy Palace didn't have a place for such a loving soul._

 _He would never admit it out loud, but Uchiha envied the egg._

 _She noticed it was him, standing before her in silence, but instead of glaring at him in silent anger or avoiding him like a plague as usual, she simply reverted her attention back to the little egg nestled between her palms. Uchiha knew that it didn't mean that she has forgiven him. Her sadness over the egg simply dwarfed her anger and bitterness towards the man standing in front of her._

 _He saw semi spherical drops of water fall on her hand, and he knew it was her._

 _He voice was soft and tender as always, "I felt something was amiss, and...I went to Juugo san," her voice trembled, "but nothing could be done."_

 _Her index finger drew airy circles on the egg, "And it was almost due." Her voice trailed off and she started sobbing quietly. She bowed her head again, trying to hide her tears. Her long black hair concealed her face like a silken curtain._

 _When Uchiha knelt down before her, he leaned forward, close enough to look right at her. Her face jerked up in surprise, but he wasn't looking at her, he was intently looking at the egg. He had his right hand over the egg, and his lips were set in a straight line in a focused look._

 _Then she saw his left eye turn into lavender grey and tomoes start spinning in the black orbit of his strange iris._

 _Suddenly she felt unexplainable fear and she jerked it away from his touch, "Wa-Waker sama! What are you doing?" She kept the egg close to her chest as her light lilac eyes widened. His eyes reverted to their bottomless dark hue, but she felt her body still shivering as she tried to look brave._

 _Then she heard-Crack!_

 _When she looked down at her egg, she couldn't believe her eyes-a slight fissure formed on the delicate shell._

 _Her immediate reaction was fear that she accidentally broke her egg in her horror over Uchiha's sudden transformation. But then a tiniest beak started poking out of the fissure, and more cracks started to form around._

 _But the tiny hatchling was struggling with breaking its shell. Feeling pity for the hatchling, she raised her finger to help it, but Uchiha grabbed her hand. As he spoke in a low, husky voice, his gaze never left from the egg, "It has to break its own shell. Helping it only lowers its natural survival rate."_

 _She tried to protest, "But..." But she couldn't say anything as Uchiha lightly squeezed her hand, his firm grasp reassuring her._

 _Hyuuga didn't know for how long they both waited in anticipation of the hatchling's debut. He was still kneeling before her, his right knee on the ground, as he leaned over and kept holding her hand. His hand looked large-there was no smoothness to his skin but his fingers were long and elegantly formed but hardened from long battles. She didn't know if she should squirm at his warm touch or keep pretending that she was too focused on the hatchling to notice. Her heart started thumping as fast as the rate at which the hatchling poked at its shell with its pert beak._

 _And then finally a small but elegantly sloped tiny head peeked from the cracked shell, its almond eyes closed and then blinking open. When the hatchling started blinking its eyes open, that was when Uchiha finally released Hyuuga's hand and stood up abruptly._

 _When Hyuuga looked up at him in slight surprise, he coughed into his hand and glanced sideways, "I...heard that hatchlings recognize the first thing they see as their 'mother.'"_

 _"Ah..." She inwardly smiled. He wanted to avoid being tailed by a hatchling._

 _She stared down at the hatchling that cocked its head to a side before slowly flapping its still wet wings as it tried to snuggle close to her chest._

 _Then she stared at Uchiha who was towering before her. She gasped, "How...how can this be? Ju-Juugo san told me that..."_

 _There was no way someone as meticulous and professional about animals such as Juugo could have mistaken the egg's death. But she couldn't explain the hatchling's miraculous revival._

 _Uchiha looked down at her with his characteristically expressionless face and he slowly opened his mouth, "That was the power of the Rinnegan. The past Second Waker had it. And I have it."_

 _She opened her mouth in shock and then closed it. Her light lilac colored eyes were still wide like an owl, and she looked as if she didn't realize that a baby bird was chirping and trying to push itself into her warm hands and nuzzle to its' 'mother.'_

 _It took her a great amount of effort to bring herself to speak, "The-there were only speculations about the powers of the Rinnegan, but...reviving the dead. That is unheard of!"_

 _His response was minimalistic, "So, now you know."_

 _Hyuuga finally heard the desperate beeping of the bird, and she apologetically stroked the fuzzy hatchling. She wondered, 'Is it safe for Uchiha sama to openly show me the powers of his Rinnegan?'_

 _As if he read her mind, he looked down at her, "You're the First Waker's Pearl." His fair face looked especially illuminative with his dark, enhanced eyes and perfect, white teeth._

 _And then to her surprise, a smirk graced his fair face, "That 'thing'...it's cute now, but wait till it grows up."_

 _Hyuuga didn't understand the meaning behind his warning, but when she took the hatchling to Juugo for a medical check-up, he confirmed that the species was a male Indian peafowl, known as a 'peacock.'_

Breaking away from his reveries, Uchiha sighed. Hyuuga has quickly forgotten his kindness in her haste to take care of her new pet even though it was him who saved it, and now she was deliberately shunning his consideration by going off to the battlefield in cursed Konoha. The meek, clumsy, and shy Hyuuga was becoming bolder every minute, and he had to honestly admit that he didn't completely disapprove of that unexpected change.

He just wished she didn't waste the fire in her heart and skills for such worthless people that he was planning to kill anyways.

As he turned around, he began to steel his resolve, 'I have to kill the forces before she gets too emotionally attached to the place.'

But that was unlikely to happen soon. Uzumaki was too busy with containing the enemy forces' expansion to the North. And Uchiha had to defend the capital and its outskirting territory in case they suddenly breached the chakra barrier and infiltrated into the heart of the Realm. While Hyuuga blatantly ignored his orders, Haruno was the good girl who helped Uchiha's surveillance over the area. While Uchiha had no feelings for his Waker's Pearl other than trust in her as his subordinate and comrade, he had to acknowledge the usefulness of her indomitable loyalty to him. He wished that Hyuuga would be a little bit more submissive, for her own safety if not for his sake.

But thanks to her disobedient self-involvement in the war, Uchiha had even more incentive to crush the rebellion.

If either of he or Uzumaki finds the firebrand of the Novo Orochimaru forces, then the insurrection would end and Hyuuga will be conjured back to the Realm.

He already felt uneasy feeling the growing distance between their chakras.

* * *

Hyuuga bowed her head in gratitude to the First Waker who saw her off at the periphery of the Realm and opened the portal to the mortals' land.

When she entered the mortals' land, she realized how similar both the Realm and the world she left behind were.

With a heavy luggage on her back, she walked with her large, brilliantly colorful peacock in the deep forest. She looked down at her pet bird and stroked his beautiful blue head.

No matter how hard she tried, she can't forget the last conversation she had with Uchiha. She softly whispered, "I made him angry again..." She knew he was going to get angry if she insisted to go to Konoha despite his incomprehensible but clear disapproval of her desires.

Her lilac colored eyes saddened, "Since when did I get on his bad side? He looked so angry...I thought it would make him happy..."

Her warm hand touched the blue feathers that reflected the sunlight and flaunted their radiant sheen, "It must hurt...to hate your birthplace. It is like hating yourself, isn't it?"

The bird cocked his smooth, graceful head to a side as if he was confused. The adorable sight made her giggle.

But her bird spoke to her through chakra infrared waves, _Mistress, but you've been going out of your way to provoke Second Waker sama's ire._

At her summon's shrewd observation, she blushed like a fool and stammered, "I-I-I'm not!"

 _You seem to relish in his attention though. But I am sure there are far better ways to get his attention._

"I...know..." Her shoulders dropped. "I'm so...immature around him...Annoying him and doing everything opposite to what he wants on purpose...It's like I'm twelve all over again."

But she made a bright smile, "But this time, I'll prove myself. He'll see that I'm not a child anymore."

* * *

Two months have passed since Hyuuga informed the two Wakers and Hauno through telepathic chakra waves that she has successfully arrived at Konoha.

Uzumaki asked, "How do you like living in Konoha so far?" He grinned.

There was a gentle laughter to Hyuuga's voice, "I love it, Uzumaki sama. I can't believe that it has already been two months."

Haruno's tone was curious, "So if there wasn't even a single attack or suspicious activity, what do you do there?"

Hyuuga's voice faltered a bit before showing some shy, nervous merriment, "I...I've been working part time as a-an assistant in a cake shop."

Uchiha frowned and said nothing.

Hyuuga whispered tentatively, "Uchiha sama?' She seemed unsure whether he was connected because so far he didn't say a single word. "Are you there?"

"He's here, Hyuuga," the First Waker scoffed, "He's just mad that you didn't follow his advice to stay. And he hates sweets, so he has nothing interesting to say either."

"Oh..." after a pause, he could hear her light, airy voice, "I learned how to make red wine cake today, and...it wasn't so sweet, Waker sama."

Uchiha flinched slightly. Waker sama. It has always been a cold, formal "Uchiha sama," since their argument in the water hole. But the way she said it almost made it seem as if she...no, things can never be the same between them. He knew that such hope was utter foolishness. She was probably talking to Dead-last. For a moment, pure hatred against his old friend and co-ruler seeped into his chest, but he maintained his silence and expression of boredom.

Uzumaki laughed, "That's so great! Maybe teme might even like it, who knows? Well, there shouldn't be any invasion coming soon because we're getting close to capturing the ringleader! So, just think of it as a vacation!"

Haruno told her that the Palace feels empty without her(which means more work for Haruno).

Uchiha still didn't say anything. Even if the consensus is that she is fine as long as she is with Zetsu, he is still disappointed that she chose to be so far away. His instincts told him that the rebellion might not end as simply as Uzumaki anticipates.

And he hated it when it turned out his intuition was right.

It took only three hours for Hyuuga to be from learning how to bake and frost cakes in a safe, normal village to facing perilous attacks from murderous clone soldiers.

Breathless, Haruno ran to him, slamming his door open to his office, "Uchiha sama, Konoha is on seige! The Novo Orochimaru forces played a trick on us." She panted, laying a hand on her chest to catch her breath, "They decided to go full force on your hometown after retreating from the Realm!"

He stared at her with wide dark eyes, and the felt pen in his hand snapped into two.

* * *

The two Wakers and Haruno all stared at the panoramic screen created by their chakra that showed them what was going on in alternate dimensions.

Enemies were crawling up the stone walls of Konohakagure, and burning arrows were flying in the sky, only to die out due to the Novo Orochimaru forces' invisible chakra barrier that protected the clone armies.

Haruno observed, "It seems that Hyuuga's protective trigram barrier didn't hold for so long. She must have exhausted her chakra by trying to protect the entire wall."

As she didn't have much experience traveling outside the capital, Haruno asked Uchiha, "How long would it take for us to go to Konoha?"

She noticed the rising paleness of her master's face as he stared straight into the screen. He answered with a raspy voice, "Four days if we don't capture the head leader of the group. An hour if we do."

He stared at the miniature rendition of the Konohan walls in the screen. Somewhere in those walls, Hyuuga is fighting desperately to save the people.

Deidara appeared behind them, bearing worse news, "Zetsu is hurt."

A heavy silence fell as everyone understood the implications.

Uchiha was getting tired of this bullshit, not being able to run to Hyuuga and save her, but he had to admit. First thing's come first, and before he goes to Konoha, he has to decapitate the head leader of this insurrection. If he goes to Konoha before he completes his task, the capital will be vulnerable and that would mean the end of everybody.

The Second Waker said quietly, "The enemy forces are a fairly young organization, so as long as we have the leader dead, the entire group shall fall. We don't need to worry about a new leader replacing the old one, and the group will likely fall into internal chaos."

Uzumaki nodded and turned to head to his designated territory to resume his inspection.

Haruno looked at both Uzumaki and then Uchiha in concern, "Would he succeed?"

He turned and answered with a quiet sort of confidence, "He's an even better detective than me in times of trouble. He'll be fine."

Finding the leader in these multitudes of soldiers is akin to finding a needle in the haystack, but Uchiha had trust in Uzumaki's abilities.

By the sheer power of his will, Uzumaki pursued him all the way to the Realm and became the First Waker in hopes to persuade him to abandon his plan of revenge. He was the only one he can respect as his rival and he won't let him down, especially since Hyuuga is involved.

As soon as Uzumaki confirms the ringleader's death, Uchiha was going to Konoha.

* * *

Zetsu coughed erratically as he sat in the corner of the office floor of the hokage tower. The deserted office was not just unkept and dirty-it was empty saved for Zetsu and Hyuuga who were overwhelmed and exhausted by the fight. The chairs and desks were toppled in disarray. An orchid vase shattered on the ground, the brown soil scattered everywhere.

When they both ran to the hokage tower, they expected the hokage and councilmen to be preparing their strike against the invaders. But this was the state they found themselves in. The hokage tower, the pinnacle of Konohakagure's statemen's authority and responsibility to protect their people, was empty.

Hyuuga was staring out of the window, her hands wrapped in her protective trigram arrow and bow, the transparent blue net of chakra blades swirled around her like a hologram. Perched on the window still was her peacock surveying the enemy forces that looked like ants outside the walls. She noticed several things about the army.

"The enemies like to swarm with each other, almost like bees. Wouldn't it be strategically better if they dispersed and tried to surround the wall?"

Zetsu spoke amid his coughs, "They're just clone armies, Hyuuga. They're mindless bots. They're incapable of strategic thinking."

Hyuuga didn't reply. She didn't buy into Zetsu's claims. 'I don't believe that's it, though. Them hitting us behind our back...there's a mastermind behind this. They're not just mindless bots as Zetsu san says...But why are they unable to break away from each other?'

Then she heard Zetsu break into a terrible streak of coughing, and she immediately deactivated her protective trigram weapons and ran up to his side.

She kneeled by his side and stared at his crouching form in panic, "Zetsu sensei!"

Zetsu smirked at her misuse of suffixes but gave into another bout of coughing, "Hyuuga...you must escape. Leave me here. I'll buy some time. Get out."

At first she stared at him with wide eyes of surprise, but she hardened her gaze, "No."

She stood up and ran back to the window where she was observing the enemy forces. Re-activating her protective 64 palms trigrams bow and arrow, she tightened her grip on her bow as she drew back the arrow with the taught chakra string.

Bitting her lip, she stared hard into the black swarms of heads and fired her arrow. Where the arrow hit, there was a momentary opening in space, but in alarming speed, the soldiers reproduced like quickly infesting yeast and there were more.

Zetsu shook his head, "It's no use, Hyuuga. Killing them one by one is just going to help them grow in number. You have to escape."

She stared at the daunting number of the soldiers in disbelief, "How are they able to reproduce this quickly?"

"No idea."

The situation felt hopeless. They were advancing quickly, and soon the walls are going to give over. They're crawling over the stone walls. The Konohan ninjas are not going to hold for so long, without their chakra.

Hyuuga closed her eyes. Her chakra is nearing its end. In her hands were her wavering protective trigram bow and arrow. She had her last shot, and she can't waste it on doing the same thing over and over again.

'What would...Waker sama do?'

That one question that loomed over in her mind evoked a memory back in the waterhole before the Waker's Pearl's tournament.

 _They have just finished their training in the waterhole. She was soaked to the bone and was trailing behind him, his cloak over her shoulders, giving her some decency. They were walking back to the same direction as the Palace, until suddenly the Second Waker stopped and eyed something intently on the forest ground. Curious, his pupil looked at what he was seeing. It was a swarm of fire ants, little insects with waxy skin the color of cayenne pepper, blocking their way. They were in a huge number, throngs of fire ants building a bridge across the muddy bath with their bodies, and the only way to go over them seemed to be jumping a huge leap. Hyuuga turned pale. Those ants are awful-their bites enough to infect their victims with atrocious sores and heat pains._

 _When she threw a gentle fist attack on the ants, it only killed a line of ants that were quickly filled up with more ants. Some ants that were enraged by her attack even started to race against her._

 _Panicking, she stepped back. But the man in front of her merely drew out his sword from his sheath._

 _He directed the sharp edge to point at a flat slab of rock that the ants were going under. Hyuuga frowned. Now that she noticed it, she wondered why the ants would bother going under that rock while they could just go around. It seemed a major inconvenience._

 _Then he suddenly tipped the flat slab of rock over with his sword, and Hyuuga saw a swarm of ants teeming under the bottom of the rock, exposed to the sun. There she saw one of the ants, same in size and color as the rest but with one noticeable difference-a protruding bell-shaped belly._

 _Before she can look at that different ant in curiosity, the Second Waker squashed the unique ant and its surrounding legions with his dark leather boot. He rubbed the sole in for extra measure. And then the ants that were walking in a stately processions started scrambling in frenzy and soon enough they cleared the path and hid into the grass._

As she remembered the incident, few words came to her mind, 'Ants...queen...'

'If there is a possibility that the Novo Orochimaru clone armies had a 'queen' figure, then it would make sense how they can repopulate so easily. Having a key figure that they depend their reproduction on also explains why they can't to scatter to different parts in their invasion.'

She gripped on her bow, "But how can I locate their life source when I can't activate my byakugan?"

Then she heard a voice, _My mistress, that is where I can help you._

She snapped her gaze to the source of the voice, her peacock and summon in training. So far her summon didn't show any noticeable prowess in battle. How was it going to help in this critical moment?

Sensing her doubt, he fluttered his gorgeous sleek wings, _I am the reincarnation of Argos. The phoenix born of its ashes. I can give you ubiquitous sight._

Hyuuga looked at her peacock. She was so touched by his willingness to help, but she was still unsure. "But Argos, I need eyes. Lots and lots of eyes."

 _As I said, I have a thousand to spare._

I don't understand...ah!"

But then what looked like yellow pollen drifted from the peacock's crown and flew outside and over the walls like dandelion seeds.

Suddenly, she was bombarded with numerous sensations of sound and sight-the battle cries of the clones, marching hooves of their summons.

All of these visions that materialized in her head like screen panels were delivered by Argos' aerial eyes.

Finally she saw what looked like a blue skinned girl with long, trailing hair with six legs, carried like an empress on a carriage by the clones.

Observing the 'queen's' surrounding infrastructure, Hyuuga calculated quickly, "In the region covered by eleven o'clock and five minute angle pie chart to the Main gate."

Then she leaped outside the window and started racing across the roofs of the buildings.

She counted inside her head, 'Five...' As she saw the main gate in her field of vision, 'Four...' The petite blue haired girl activated her protective trigram sword that wrapped around her arm and glowed blue, 'Three...' And she flew above the heads of the clone soldiers that tried to catch her, but she was like a bird out of reach. Then she finally saw their 'queen' and the minute she saw her cold, lifeless, disdainful eyes, she sliced through her barrier with her glowing blue katana and opened her palm against her chest, whispering "Gentle First."

The six legged queen's body jerked backward by the blow of Hyuuga's gentle fist and she reeled back with her face that remained expressionless and cold like a bot.

* * *

When Uchiha finally arrived at Konoha, what he saw first were the walls crumbled down to the ground and the civilians heaving bricks to rebuild what was lost.

A scowl set on his handsome face. His dark eyes glared at various directions, shifting from left to right, as he looked for a head full of midnight blue hair.

His heart started to palpitate as he unsuccessfully looked for her as soon as he set foot over the threshold to his most hated place in the world.

He never knew that he would come back to Konoha without his clear purpose of revenge. That he would come back without planning to do any harm to the people. It was unthinkable of him to come back with _peaceful intentions._ If it wasn't for a certain white eyed stubborn Waker's Pearl, he would've never come back as a civil visitor.

So far he can feel the connection of their chakra. She was safe, but his inability to spot her was slowly eating at his nerves.

Then he heard someone call for him, "Why isn't it the most reverent Second Waker sama?"

He glared at the direction of the flamboyant greeting, and it was Zetsu who was stitched up with medical band.

When he saw that his master wasn't in a mood for courtesy, Zetsu continued anyways, "You should have seen Hyuuga, Uchiha sama! She was the hero of the war! Everyone in Konoha is alive thanks to her!"

He continued as he triumphantly smirked at the evident surprise in his face, "I asked her how she knew the clones had a 'queen,' and she said she got the inspiration from you!"

The dark haired man's lips tightened in a line, and Zetsu continued, "I wonder what that means, cause I really-hey!" But before he can finish his words, he passed by him, his dark grey cape drifting for a moment.

As he walked up to the line of bricks that were in the process of stacking, he finally saw her, lending a helping hand to the civilians who were in the middle of reconstruction. The midnight blue haired girl was carrying a rock that probably weighs as much as herself. He guessed that she was cleaning up the remnants of the main wall of Konoha that are now just stony rubble that are clogging the transportation paths. Next to her was a wooden cart that must have seen better days. She quickly placed the giant rock inside the cart, careful to not accidentally jam her dirty gloved fingertips beneath the heavy rubble.

For a moment, she looked too focused on her work to notice him. But he remained where he first saw her, staring at her without making any motions to move or leave.

When she finally lifted and placed another rock, she caught a glimpse of the tall, dark man who was rooted to the ground, just a several yards away from her. He also got a clear sight of her face-the left side of her round chin was smudged with coal and her hair was in a slight disarray by working outdoors in the wind.

Her light lilac eyes widened at the unexpected guest.

"Waker sama!"

She quickly took off the glove on her left hand and walked toward him in quick, hurried steps. She almost stumbled over another big rock in her haste to get to him but she rather ungracefully balanced herself back. Her gaze never left from his dark eyes that stared impassively back at her.

"You're here! Have you s-seen how much we've rebuilt the walls?"

She couldn't keep the pride and exultation from her voice as she approached him fast. She was oblivious to the fact that she was spreading her arms wide and a smile was growing wide on her dirty face.

"I was able to do it, Waker sama!"

This was the loudest she has spoken to him, except when she accidentally professed how much she cared for her 'messenger sama' at the Wakers' banquet six years ago. Even at her loudest, her voice was soothing. Maybe the way she talks normally is too soft, like a ghost of a sunshine at dawn that was there but not completely. Her voice that was soft but held a current of excitement was spring itself. He remembered how often she compared her 'angel sama' to 'spring,' but spring wasn't loud. Did she know that she herself was a more accurate embodiment that did justice to the season? He wondered.

"I just wanted to say-I got to defeat them because-"

But it seemed that he was keen on interrupting people that day.

* * *

When she walked up to him and was close enough, just a mere feet apart, she had her arms spread wide apart. Suddenly she didn't know what to do with her wide arms, but it turned out that she needn't worry. Because he was the one to close the several feet gap by flying onto her almost in a lunging motion. Almost as if he was falling into gravity and was spreading his arms toward her as he fell from the sky, and even though she didn't know what to do and she was clearly not in her right set of mind, her arms spread wide open and she caught him in her embrace. Before she can fully process what was happening, all she could really notice was his perfectly chiseled, fair face looking down at her, the tips of their noses close enough to touch. Seeing his face so close to hers was a breathtaking ordinance. She didn't really know what to say or do as her lilac eyes widened in shock and wonder.

And the minute she felt his arms encircle her and his large hands pull her towards him, pressing her front flush to his, she felt her heart stop. She took in how his dark eyes looked down at her, and his eyelids fringed with impossibly thick, raven eyelashes drifted shut. Their noses brushed against each other and she stared at him wide eyed.

* * *

"Oh my gosh, is that a kiss?!"

Deidara cried out. From his point of view and the others who followed after him, it was hard to tell. Uchiha sneakily covered the part of their mouths with his shoulders when he jumped the unsuspecting, surprised Hyuuga, making it extremely ambiguous whether they have done _that._

Distress was clear in Haruno's voice although she struggled to control it, "Of course not, Deidara san! Watch what you say!"

Ignoring her, Deidara yelled at Konan who just stared at them from afar, her chin on her hand in deep thought, "But, gosh, it's so hard to tell! If only his shoulders didn't block the view, damn it!"

Konan shook her head, "I'm not sure, either Deidara san. Without something like a kekken genkai, it would be hard to tell. But I have a sense that the First Waker sama won't be too happy to see this."

Then the Akatsuki gossipers felt the hair on their back of their necks stand at the end as they heard a familiar male voice behind them, "Like what, Konan?"

But when the First Waker saw what was happening just a few yards away, he quickly learned what they were talking about and he stared wide eyed at the sight of the tall, swarthily dressed man basically swallowing the petite girl in his cape.

A pregnant silence fell for a moment, but the tall blond male took a step forward and summoned his Waker's Pearl, "Hyuuga!"

A tiny indigo haired head poked out from Uchiha's arms like a cute, blue prairie dog. Then she struggled out of his hold in her haste to run up to her master's command.

When she rushed up to him, he took a stern look at her features-her cheeks were red like pink lady apples and she looked bewildered.

Uzumaki inwardly groaned, 'gah, I can't tell if they _kissed_ just by looking at her. Hyuuga blushes at everything. If she wore lipstick or gloss or whatever, I could tell, but now there is no way.'

"Ye-ye-yes, Uzumaki sama? Y-you called for me?"

His head started to move busily to fabricate some excuse for calling her, "Um-umm, yeah, I need a briefing on the update. On what happened."

At first she tilted her head to a side in confusion, but then a lightbulb went on her head, "Oh, ye-yes, of course! What happened was, Uzumaki sama, I-"

He cut in her words, "I want us to talk in private."

Her eyes widened slightly at his unusual formality, but she quickly nodded her head and dutifully followed him to where he thought was fitting for a private conference-the Konohan hokage tower.

As she followed her master, she looked back over her shoulder and saw the Second Waker staring at her.

'He looks lonely,' she thought. Her eyes didn't want to depart from him, but at her duty's prompting, she followed Uzumaki to the innermost part of the village.

She touched her lips with her hand carefully, and she blushed a deep red tomato. She felt steam coming out of her ears. It all happened out of sudden. She didn't know what to make out of it. She...liked it, it was just...too sudden.

As she followed Uzumaki into the infirmary clinic in the government district, she smiled to herself, 'I'll make him the red wine cake I learned few weeks ago!'

* * *

Now that she thought about it, it was odd that Uzumaki decided to bring her, of all places, to the infirmary. Why not the hokage office or even the library?

Nonetheless, she gave him a detailed briefing on how she and Zetsu learned that the councilmen and the hokage escaped from the village once they learned of the invasion. Uzumaki's face was uncharacteristically grave. His full lips pursed in deep thought as he crossed his arms.

"What should we do with the officials who abandoned their people, Uzumaki sama?" Her dusty ash grey brows furrowed in consternation. "If they come back..."

He didn't say for a moment as he crossed his arms, and then he raised his blue eyes to hers, "If they come back, we'll give them a month of grace period to collect their stuff and hand over their duties to more fitting people," Hyuuga's eyes widened at his logical judgment. He concluded his words with "The Konohans deserve someone better."

She nodded her head in agreement.

"So Hyuuga, are you ready to take on something heavier?"He stared straight into her eyes, "This is a matter of life and death and I need you to answer carefully."

She swallowed the lump in her throat. Then her pearl white eyes shone with determination.

He finally asked, "Are you willing to protect the Konohan people? At the expense of your own life?"

She was startled. She thought the war with the Novo-Orochimaru forces ended. Was there more to fight against?

After some thought, she nodded, "I don't care if it hurts or I suffer. I am willing to follow your orders."

He narrowed his blue eyes at her, "Are you sure?"

She tightened her fist and brought it to her chest, "Yes."

Looking into her eyes, he started to nod slowly, "Then...I'll give you the tools." Then he started to rummage the cabinet of the infirmary and pulled out five white wax candles.

When he pulled out the candles, he sighed with relief, "I was hoping that they still kept the emergency stock of candles. Good that they do."

Then from his pocket underneath his white cape, he pulled out a red string, "Sit on the steel table."

When she sat on the steel table and stared at him with owlish eyes.

"Uh, Hyuuga," he blushed as he looked down at the red string coiled around his bandaged hands, "Can you take off your shirt?"

Hyuuga's eyes widened and a blush spread like a wild fire across her face. She breathed in and out, telling herself, 'Uzumaki sama told me that it's a matter of life and death.' But it was still very bizarre.

After opening and gaping her mouth like a cute fish, she turned her back to him and pulled up her shirt over her head. She happened to wear a black, fishnet bra that looked more like a sports bra than an actual lingerie. She bowed her head down, and her straight black hair fell by her blushing face like curtains.

The hair on the back of her neck stood at the end as she felt his warm breath close to her back, "Hold on. This might hurt a little."

He placed the five candles around her as in some _jin_ or other spatial jutsu and tied the red strings across, bounding her wrists.

Then he lisped some spells and placed his hand on the lower part of her back, and suddenly Hyuuga felt a jolting, searing pain of fire and she gritted her teeth to contain her scream. Fire started rising from the candles, and when she glanced at him, she noticed that his entire body was aflame in the golden sage mode.

When the strange ritual was done, the ephemeral yellow light that glowed his body disappeared and he went back to normal, "Now you have half of Kurama, my demon fox. You are my twin jinjuriki. My other half. We're inseparable."

Hyuuga's heart felt like it just dropped, and she quickly turned towards him, "Why..? Tha-that makes you vulnerable! Why would you give half of your powers to me?"

Suddenly, it was his time to blush. A red blush diffused over the ridge of his nose, as he scratched the back of his neck, a nervous tic that was endearing itself to Hyuuga, "I just wanted to say...thank you...Thank you for saving the village at my place, Hyuuga."

He slowly approached her and placed his large, warm hands on her biceps. His eyes shyly averted to the ground.

"This village is everything to me. It is what I gave up my humanity for. My parents...died to save this village. It would've killed me if the villagers got killed."

Her eyes widened in surprise. She didn't know, had no idea how much his hometown meant to him. She was just glad that she was able to protect what he loved. Then he placed his lips at the crook of her pale, creamy neck.

"Thank you."

And a light, feathery peck on her forehead,

"Thank you."

* * *

A short, round faced man in his early forties, wearing the official garb and badge of Konohan officials, bowed to her, "So you are Uzumaki sama's Waker's Pearl! We owe our lives to you."

Hyuuga was not surprised to see how thoroughly unimpressed her master Uzumaki looked as he saw the councilmen return to the village, slinking by in guilt. She still managed a polite, albeit uneasy looking smile to one of the councilmen who came up to her.

She bet that her smile looked really uneasy and half-hearted, but she can't help it since she saw through the councilmen's intentions. It was obvious he was hoping to get back to his original place of power by capitulating to the First Waker and his Waker's Pearl.

At least that was what she assumed at first. But the councilmen's intention of approaching her was actually a lot more insidious than her thought.

After bidding her lord farewell, Hyuuga was about to go take care of the village restoration. Then the same councilmen who approached her went up to her again, "Um, Hyuuga sama."

The councilmen looked here and there to check that he and Hyuuga were alone. Hyuuga noticed that some other councilmen were standing by, but strangely he looked comfortable enough to talk to her, "At the risk of sounding intrusive, may I ask some questions?"

She nodded, but she had no way to foresee his question, "What kind of relationship do you have with the Second Waker sama?"

Taken aback by the unexpected nature of his question, Hyuuga blushed and quickly waved her hand to emphasize that whatever suspicion the councilman might have is absolutely unfounded.

She noticed the man's beady eyes narrowing in suspicion, "Do...do you know of our village's history with the Second Waker?"

Confused, she tilted her head to a side, "Isn't Konoha Uchiha sama's hometown? I heard that Uchiha sama and my lord were childhood friends."

"Oh yes, yes, indeed." The man looked strangely relieved by her simple answer.

The man's odd response then ignited a spark of curiosity that was always lingering at the back of her mind.

"But strangely," the councilman stiffened at her words, "I have yet to see someone named 'Uchiha' in Konohakagure."

She noticed how there was nobody by the surname of her two masters. Shouldn't there be at least some relatives?

She then asked the councilman, her eyes wide and innocent, "Do you know anyone by the name of 'Uchiha' in the village?"

The councilman's face suddenly turned stark white, and he suddenly gave into dry heaving coughs. He quickly excused himself, and then one by one, all the councilmen left.

Hyuuga frowned. She murmured, "how strange," but seeing how she had already lost so much time, she gasped and ran to the construction site of the wall.

* * *

Hyuuga noticed how the villagers displayed open admiration and awe toward Uchiha as he walked down the Konohan street. He seem to not pay them any mind, but none dared to approach him.

They clearly recognized who he was, the Second Waker, the deity of shadows, rain, and lightning, a native to their otherwise humble town, but their reaction was not that of hometown folks greeting their long estranged neighbor. Nor was there open hostility. What she observed from afar was something more vague and grey zoned—thick tension full of admiration and fear, as if they expect the ticking of a bomb to go off any minute.

In contrast, Uzumaki was surrounded by old neighbors of all age groups. The younger ones slapped his back in easy camaraderie while the older ones cupped his hands and kept bowing in hearty gratitude.

The difference was so jarring it felt like day and night.

'How can there be such a stark difference in treatment?' she wondered. 'Both are Wakers. Both are native to this town. Both left the town at similar time frames. How strange.'

When she asked her co-worker and friend in the cake shop, Maru, he just shook his head, "Oh, and what is also weird is that the Second Waker sama never visited his home."

Her eyes widened, "His home still exists?"

"Yes, of course!" Maru squeezed more sugary frosting on his cupcakes, "First Waker sama just loves Konoha. He visits his academy, gives gifts to his old teachers, and holds picnics at his old training grounds, Uchiha sama is more...how to say, aloof? It is my first time to ever see him in person. In fact, all of my friends never saw him until now." He scratched his head, "He has never even visited the Uchiha mansion."

"Maru kun," her brows furrowed pensively, "Do you know where the Uchiha mansion is? I want to know."

* * *

At the dead of the night, Hyuuga was standing in front of the one of the most bizzarre tourist attractions she has seen in Konoha—the Uchiha district. Nobody dared to enter the Uchiha mansion. There was a wooden post at the front, warning to those to not trespass in red paint.

Her dainty hand touched the wooden pillar at the entrance with admiration, "So beautiful..."

Argos, in his Indian peafowl form, pecked on her leg, _Looks like a haunted house to me._

"Why would," she wondered as she kept stroking the pillar, "Uchiha sama refuse to even get near to his house?"

 _Have you tried asking Uzumaki?_ The elaborate bird cocked his head to a side, _They're town friends right?_

"I tried, but... he looked very uncomfortable and reluctant to tell me more about Uchiha sama's past...As his Waker's Pearl, I could no longer pressure him." She said sadly.

Then Argos activated his thousand eyes- _Hmm...blood...and lots of stains of old blood. Something bad has happened here. I don't like it._

Her eyes widened in horror and her body froze at his words. She stared at the big crest, a divided red and white fan painted on the door.

She whispered, "Uchiha sama..."

Then she jumped at the sound of a low, deep, husky voice, "What is it?"

She swirled and blushed, touching her fingers together. There he was, in his dark grey cape, looking dour as usual. She started biting her lip in guilt as she straightened her back after realizing that she was doing her nervous tic-fidgeting with her hands. Even if he didn't visit his home, it was still his private property.

"Se-Second Waker sama, I...I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to trespass."

His face remained expressionless as he looked down at her. Then he looked up at the full moon that shone its yellow beams. He then remarked in a way that Hyuuga was not quite sure if it was directed to her or himself, "It's late."

"I'll walk you..." He paused, not quite sure what to call the place she stayed other than the word 'home.'

At his words, Hyuuga looked up to him in surprise and then giggled. In turn, he looked down at her frowning, unsure of what she found so funny this time.

Seeing his frown, she quickly explained, "Ah, it's just...I'm the Waker's Pearl and not even the most adept ninja can easily hurt me."

He grunted and stared down at her coldly before turning to walking ahead. She started to jog along to catch up to his long legs.

Then they started to walk side by side. The path was strangely empty. Hyuuga straightened her back, but she still felt really nervous. She didn't understand what she was getting nervous for. They walked together a lot of times before.

He was the one to break the silence, "So...you like this place."

Again, a question posed as a statement. She smiled softly and nodded, "Yes. Everyone here is so kind and full of life. I'm treated as a family not a stranger."

He didn't answer. Instead, he looked straight ahead, his jaw clenching slightly.

When they finally reached the small tent she was staying in, he opened his lips, "I hate this place." His tone can freeze the air around them.

Holding the fabric opening to her tent, she froze and turned. There was seething hatred in his eyes that glowed red in the death of the night.

"But," he approached her, towering above her like a predator or a boogeyman she met in her childhood dreams. She stared up at him, her cheeks coloring as she craned her neck to look up at him. He looked down at her, and she was relieved to see the demonic red glow in his eyes reside and his eyes come back to normal.

"I'm trying," he focused on her wide, doe-like eyes. He gently grasped both of her shoulders as he bowed his head, his black hair grazing his cheekbones as he spoke absently, "I'm really trying." His voice reminded her of velvet. The way he looked down at her made her squirm and blush so hard that she pushed him away gently on the chest.

She didn't get a good look at his expression. Maybe he looked surprised. Perhaps offended. But having experienced so much in a few days, she felt overwhelmed and twice as shy so she squeaked a hasty goodnight before ducking into her tent.

When she lied on her mattress, she kept asking, 'What do you mean, Waker sama? What are you 'trying?'"

She hadn't a blink of sleep that night.

* * *

The Konohan ninjas and civilians' adoration of Uchiha was rising high and far like fire. His handsome looks, awesome powers and feats, aloof nature, and the fact that he is a Konohan native turned him into some celebrity. But not all were happy to hear about this. Especially the higher-ups who were either directly involved or related to those who involved themselves in his personal tragedy.

Several councilmen gathered together under the shadows of the hokage tower. Their face looked dark and even sinister in the shade.

One of the councilmen bit his nails, "We got to do something. They think of Uchiha as some legend and us as crooks!"

Another whispered in fear, "What if...they convince the Second Waker to rebuild his clan here in Konoha?"

"Then," a councilmen paled like a ghost, "does it mean that we have to repeat the massacre all over again?"

"If we don't stop him before..." he swallowed, "the Uchihas might really overthrow us this time."

There was tense silence until another, with eyes like a snake's, whispered, "Do you still have the Uchiha clans' belongings in the secret archives?"

The other nodded and they all quickly went to the secluded warehouse that held all of the leaf village's political dirty laundry. They pulled out several boxes marked with coded numbers. When they opened it and looked into the content, the councilmen all nodded in solemn satisfaction.

"That'll do."

* * *

Hyuuga's old battle clothes got torn and unusable from her battle with the Novo Orochimaru forces so she decided to get some clothes at the government's spring auctions event. Rather than an organized government fundraiser, it looked more like a flea market where clothes, furniture, and dishware were strewn across tatami mats in the outdoors.

Except, the odd part was that there were too many people who looked hyped up over a small government flea market of used goods. Their eyes were glazed like children she would see at her bakery. There were even crowds of people who were obviously not affiliated with leaf village, as noted by the symbols on their headbands and their clothes.

Like the rest of the folks, she squatted over and rummaged through the piles of clothes. Then something caught her eye. The size looked just about right.

* * *

He slammed her to the nearby tree as soon as his eyes caught sight of the clothes she was wearing. The effect of the blow made her wince in pain and she stared up at his angry eyes in fear.

His sharingan activated, his black tomoes spinning wildly on his red irises, "Where...where did you get that uniform?"

There was no mistake. She was wearing what his brother wore when he became an Anbu captain at the age of thirteen. There was no way Uchiha could miss what Itachi wore at the year of their tragedy.

Her light lavender eyes teared up and she trembled in fear, and realizing that he was hurting her, he backed off as if her body was on fire.

"Uchiha sama..."

But his rage was all consuming. He thought all of his belongings and his family's were in the Uchiha district that is closed to all public. And there was no way Hyuuga would intrude into his house and steal his family's clothes. He roared, "Answer me!"

"The flea market," there was a tremor in her voice, "the councilmen had...they opened a fundraiser...to gather money to restore..."

At her words, his eyes slowly started to widen in horror and then he bolted out of her sight and ran to his old house.

But they were already in the middle of auctioning the Uchiha mansion.

* * *

When she learned the truth about his tragic history from Uzumaki and ran to the Uchiha mansion, it was too late. When she begged Uzumaki to tell her the truth, she wasn't prepared to hear what he said.

 _When he was six...his older brother Itachi killed his entire family and members of his clan one night._

She ran to the direction of the Uchiha mansion and begged, 'Please Waker sama, please...hold on a second, please.'

 _It turned out that...the hokage and the councilors of Konoha at that time...gave Itachi an ultimatum-have his entire family killed or spare at least one of them._

Her eyes started to tear up, as she imagined a young, pale, dark haired boy shivering in the dark in a dead house. Her heart shook as it threatened to break into a million pieces. She felt literal pain in her chest as she imagined a young child, who still has baby fat in his cheeks, too weak and fragile to have understand what was going on.

 _Itachi spared Sasuke._

It was becoming hard for her to breath. 'What would he have thought as he saw me being naively happy in this town? Baking cupcakes without a care in the world. Smiling to those who abandoned him and took his life from him? Oh, Waker sama...'

As she saw the opened main door of the Uchiha district, her heart dropped. A body was lying at the entrance made her stomach drop in dread.

When she entered the main courtyard, she saw blood was dripping from his kusanagi's silvery edge, falling into crimson droplets on the mansion's main porch.

There was Uchiha standing in the dark shade of his house, holding his kusanagi. It almost seemed as if the shadows were the darkness radiating from his entire being. Spots of blood, someone else's, marred his pale, translucent face, and he stared down at her. Bodies of what looked like innocent civilians, greedy and foolish perhaps but still harmless, strewn across the main porch.

Her eyes started to water at some recognized faces. Those she managed to protect.

As the rank of blood assaulted her senses, her knees almost gave away.

He flicked the blood from his kusanagi with a swipe and slowly advanced towards her.

"Hyuuga, you see, I really tried to forgive this god forsaken place. You know that right? I really tried. After seeing how much you loved this place and gave yourself for it, I tried. You see that right? How much I tried to not kill this place."

He stepped down from his porch. Shuddering, she retreated a few steps back, but he kept advancing towards her slowly.

"But...now I see that it was never meant to be. These scum that mascarade themselves heros and benign village folks are just scoundrels that should rot in hell. How dare they put their grimy hands over the Uchihas' possessions. When every Uchiha died because of them. Wasn't taking their lives overnight not good enough for them? How much are they going to test me?"

A classical, political move of psychological genocide. Auctioning off a massacred clan's possessions was a perfect way to dispel the public's fantasies of the unattainable, almost mythical clan that died overnight due to political dynamics. A perfect way to bring down the Uchihas below every civilian's level and smear the rotting paint of ignominy over their names.

Thoughts raced in her head as she saw how he paralyzed her body with the turmoil in his red hot gaze. Was it her turn? Was he going to kill her the same way he killed the councilmen and their families and the innocent prospective buyers who caved into their foolish fantasy of buying the famed Uchiha fortune? Whose only crime was being foolish enough to not be able to resist the idea of buying the long mystified estate? Was he going to kill her like how he killed everyone, even innocent spectators, at the auction?

Her voice trembled as she willed her body to run, "Pl-please...don't."

Surprisingly, he stopped in his tracks. The man who just killed hundreds in a mere seconds in his fit of rage, he stopped. He looked surprised by the fear and tenseness in her body. He reached out his hand, "Hyuuga..."

Her lips trembled and she felt her teeth chattering as if she was dying in freezing cold, "Go...away..."

Then a blue rasengan tore through the air between them, "Get away from her!"

Staggering from the blow he barely evaded, Uchiha coughed out blood and slumped to the ground. He was barely holding himself together, but he quickly formed a chidori on his right hand and threw it on ground. The gust that rose from the impact clouded Uzumaki's vision and he disappeared from their line of sight.

* * *

Hyuuga ran up the stairs and looked over the main wall of Konoha. The wall was back to its original state and she was able to see the panoramic view of the forests that encased the leaf village.

She tried to call for him, "Uchiha sama!"

But then she felt a tight iron grasp on her arm that spun her around and she saw burning blue eyes. His voice was hoarse and raspy, "Hyuuga."

"Uzumaki sama," her eyes started to tear up, "We need to find Waker sama. I believe he's hurt. I need to talk to him, I-"

She needed to find him. And after healing him, she needed to hear the story from him first. And then maybe she can help him find a way to save himself from his past.

But the blond's tone was clipped and cold, "He can't be too far. And he deserved it for what he attempted to do to you."

Her eyes widened, and she shook her head. She started to ask him why he decided at this moment to turn on his self-proclaimed best friend who had went through a living hell.

She quickly hushed herself, seeing that he was not interested in helping. She turned as she made a move to jump from the wall, "I'll go and-"

But she found herself quickly spinning again to face him as he clawed his long fingers onto her arms. "Hyuuga" he murmured with a subtle sound of rumbling down his throat.

"Uzumaki sama!" she tried to push him away but the difference between their size and strength frustrated her attempt. She panted as she stared up at him in exasperation, "What is wrong-"

" _What is wrong_?" he started yelling at her, "Hyuuga, how-how can you still act as if you're willing to give your life for Uchiha? After everything he did to you?"

He tightened his grip on her shoulders, "Is it just loyalty as the Waker's Pearl? Or is it something else?" He lowered his head, shade cast over his features by his blond hair. His blue eyes bore into hers, "Are you...his woman?"

She stared at him stunned. "Uzumaki sama," a sense of understanding slowly dawned on her face, "I used to put you on a pedestal, worshipping you from afar." Her voice was calm as she looked up to him, "When...when I started working as your Waker's Pearl, I started to see you and understand you as a person. I began to see the sadness behind your smiles and the loneliness and homesickness in your eyes. That made me decide to give my life for you if you asked for it."

His gaze faltered as she continued, "I've always been your woman for the longest time I remember, but you had yet to notice me. Your gaze was always elsewhere. And in turn, I neglected someone who was by my side all along." Her heavily lidded eyelids drifted shut and then blinked open, pools of crystal flooding down her cheeks.

She looked up to him as he stared at her in disbelief, "I've always been your woman, but now I realize where my heart belongs." Her throat felt like it was burning, brimming with emotions, "So please...I won't ask for anything else. Let me go this time."

* * *

The sudden blow of Uzumaki's rasengan to his chest was enough to impair his fighting abilities, so he escaped from the Konohan village and into the deepest parts of the Forest of Death. Despite Haruno's protests, he stood up as soon as she patched up his injuries and started running back to Konoha.

He placed a hand on one of the trees he leaped onto, crouching forward as he hissed in pain. He was finally in front of the reconstructed main wall of Konoha.

His body slumped forward but he hardened his grip on the bark of the tree. He panted, "I...I have to explain...I have to tell her..."

He started seeing images of her face, smiling at some unknown secret. He told himself, 'She'll understand. She has to. She will.' Then he groaned at the pain but resolutely looked up to the Konohan wall. But then his eyes widened at the sight before him. It was Hyuuga on top of the wall. And Uzumaki. It seemed like they were arguing. It was his heightened senses that heard Uzumaki's voice that came from the top of the stone wall.

He heard Uzumaki yell in all consuming frustration, "Since when were you ever my woman?"

Before Uchiha can fathom what was happening, Uzumaki leaned forward to Hyuuga and his mouth engulfed hers in a tender, hungry kiss.

* * *

A few days later, as soon as Uchiha went back to the Realm and invaded the Palace, full war broke out between Uchiha and Uzumaki and Konohakagure.

Uzumaki left her behind to protect the Konohan people. He had refused her request to accompany him to his confrontation with Uchiha. They haven't realky spoken since she pushed him away in anger and mortification over their forced kiss.

Then a tall, pink haired woman appeared behind the envoy. Hyuuga's expression hardened. Even if it was against her will, Haruno was deeply involved in the war, killing off innocents, civilians, and ninjas indiscriminately. While she understands that to some degree, Waker's Pearls have to obey their masters, she also knows that if Haruno didn't want to, Uchiha wouldn't have forced her to keep reaping peoples' lives.

Hyuuga can only see her zeal for killing the innocents as a desperate attempt to please her master.

"your master , come back to the Palace." That was all Haruno said, before turning her back and leaving.

* * *

She shed tears as she saw her master at his state. She cried as she reached over towards him but the bars kept him out of her reach.

He didn't lose due to being overmatched in prowess in battle. The Akatsukis' betrayal crushed him and they managed to completely paralyze his kurama, the other half of hers, after pretending to be neutral. He was lying on the prison floor as in deep sleep, completely lost in his own world, unable to wake up and know what was happening.

She knew that the Second Waker can be cruel, but she didn't know that he was capable of vegetating his only friend.

Konan bowed her head in shame, "We're sorry Hyuuga sama. All of the Akatsukis had deep relations to the former Second Waker who was Uchiha sama's older brother."

Hidan grimaced, "We...vowed to protect his younger brother for him."

She didn't make a sign that she was listening as she stared at Uzumaki with tears flowing down her face.

When Deidara approached her and tried to touch her shoulder, she flinched.

Her jaw clenched so much that she was grounding her teeth. Grabbing on the rusty bars with both hands, she bowed her head and begged, "Please...just leave us alone."

Uchiha appeared and stood where he was, making no move to giver her any privacy to cry or mourn. He looked at her grief with mild fascination.

"I...I'll do a-anything, so please..."

Behind her, the Second Waker dispassionately looked at her shivering form.

"What would you offer," he sneered, "for your golden boy's life?"

When she mouthed 'anything,' he turned to the Akatsukis and Haruno who were standing behind him, "All of you, leave."

But he didn't leave. He coldly looked into her inquiring eyes and said, "Ten minutes."

* * *

She was slung unceremoniously onto the seat of the First Waker's throne. But instead of sitting on his throne, she slumped to the ground, burying the right side of her face on the orange silk cushion as she fingered the tassles. There was a vacant, doll-like expression in her eyes as she refused to notice the Second Waker who looked down at her, breathing in deep breathes, panting as he took in the sight.

She was surprised to hear the frustration in his voice, "You refused to be in anyone's eyes and didn't want to be anywhere secluded." He spat out his words, "Are you happy?"

Her listless light lavender eyes roamed around the empty reception hall of the Palace. Where everything, including this hell where she found herself began. The air felt cold in the expansive darkly lit conference hall. There was nobody but her and Uchiha.

She refused to look up to the man who has betrayed her in every way possible. But she was also afraid. Afraid of what her heart will do this time if she looks into his deep obsidian eyes. There was nothing she had anymore that he can take. And she certainly wasn't going to give more of her heart, if she had any of that left that he didn't break.

The way he called her was breathless and tense, "Hyuuga."

No answer. He bit his bottom lip. "You think," he clenched his fists tight, "you think I'm..." he felt the bitter taste of bile rise to his tongue, "a mindless murderer."

His hand rose to cup the bottom part of his face, as if he was holding in his bout of sickness, and he looked pale.

The little girl that he loved, the girl who always brought him flowers, still didn't answer him. Her silence was affirmative. She resented him. Even hated him. He felt a dull ache at his chest like someone was twisting a knife through his body.

"Don't touch me!" She pushed off his hand that reached over to touch her shoulder, "why...why do you." her tearful eyes glared at him with sorrow, " why do you torment me so?"

The minute she slapped away his hand, he froze. As well as his heart. She was breaking his heart till nothing left. His self defense mechanism activated and he reverted to being a statue of ice.

"Because if you aren't with me," his dark eyes glared at her with a predatory stare, "you're in the way."

"Then kill me."

"...What?"

"Kill me. That way Uzumaki sama can have the rest of his chakra back and I can be free of your murderous clutches."

At her words, his eyes widened in disbelief, "What do you mean," his voice lowered dangerously, "you have his chakra?"

She glared at him defiantly, "I signed off my body to Kurama sama in exchange for half of his power." She continued, feeling satisfaction over the shock that graced his face.

"You love that dobe so much" his fingers tightened around her chin in a crushing grasp, "that you became his kurama's jinchuuriki?! Do you even know what that means? That means you're binding yourself to him for eternity!"

Her heart beat from another emotion than horror as his dark eyes bore into hers, and she had to escape from his dark gaze.

Like a cornered bunny, she sank her teeth on the hand that added pressure on her jaw. When he sharply hissed and withdrew his grasp, he heard the unthinkable, "as long as I can forget you, I'm happy."

That was it. His last thread of self restraint broke.

With a swift movement of his hands, he hoisted her up to the seat of the First Waker's chair and prevented her movement by pinning her soft body with his.

"Wha-" shocked by how he shamelessly boxed her in the First Waker's chair with the hard planes of his body, she cried, "What are you doing?!"

She looked sideways and defensively pulled her legs to her knees. Then she made a move to jump from the throne by bending her stomach across the left armchair.

But he quickly grabbed her thigh and blocked her every route to escape. When she clumsily splayed over the chair sideways, a smirk drew upon his lips. This was an even better angle for him. It was like she was offering herself to him on the chair. The horrified look on her face fanned his passion and he drew closer to her, his smirk vanishing.

She averted her eyes, embarrassed by the heat in his eyes and her unbecoming posture of lying sideways, facing him, "No..."

He started grounding onto her, his clothed pelvis thrusting onto her almost painfully as he nailed her to the First Waker's chair by the way he was humping her. A look of pain and heated blush marred her soft features as she cried out a keening whine. She had never felt this unusual pain he was inflicting on her lower body. His jealousy at the sight of Hyuuga's tears for the First blinded him in hot rage and he was in no mood to go slow and gentle on the young girl who too easily replaced him with Uzumaki.

"Uchiha sama!" She panted, her face showing agony and she was embarrassed by it, her lack of ability to school her expression, "ah!" The pain escalated as he kept thrusting onto her repetitively, building more pressure in the lower pit of her stomach.

Her untried body quaked at she felt the tough fabric of her own pants scrape against her velvety folds. She felt like she was being ripped into two. "ahhh!"

"You like this, Hyuuga?" He sadistically laughed, "Would you be able to forget me after this?"

He stroked her side with his long, deft fingers. His eyes that looked down at her were cold but heated at the same time. "Send my regards to Kurama."

She blushed at his lewd words and shook her head, her face contorted in an expression of pain and passion. He was rocking her body, making it sway and jerk forward and back, with the way he was grounding onto her intimate folds.

His silky deep voice whispered lust addled mockeries into her little ear, about how the dobe would react, seeing his Waker's Pearl defiled on his chair.

As his hand pawed on her freshly ripe womanhood shielded from view, she gasped and writhed in fear and amazement at the sensations she never felt before.

She begged, "no...please."

She sighed in relief as he removed his hand but gasped and struggled harder when he squeezed her butt to gain leverage as he humped against her harder. Something point ended and warm kept rubbing itself against her clothed stomach.

Tear drops fell on the cool marble as her nails dug on the orange cushion seat.

Then he heard her sob, "Waker sama..."

His lurching motions halted as his body jerked forward a couple of times before he came to a complete stop.

He quickly snapped his gaze to her, looking distracted and hopeful.

When she felt his heated gaze and his hands softening their grip on her thigh and wrist, she blushed at the unintentional slip. She averted her gaze, as she stammered, "I-I me-meant U...Uzumaki—"

Then she felt him violently grab her by her collar and crash his lips against hers, "Umph!"

This wasn't a kiss. There was nothing beautiful or romantic about this kiss. It was forced and violent, and Hyuuga whimpered, beating his broad back with her fists.

"Umph...ah!"

Her face flushed red at the gasps and moans that she was unwittingly making as his long, wet tongue invaded her mouth and quickly latched onto hers and drowned her along in pleasures.

"No!" When she managed to pull herself away and gasp for air, he simply grabbed the back of her head forcefully and bring her lips back to his and push his tongue between her tightly clammed lips, "Uh-umph!"

The way his wet tongue melded with hers, demanding her to surrender to him, made her blush and feel incredibly exposed and even naked. She felt the strong and wet appendage push into her mouth with hard, thrusting strokes and then teasingly play with her own shy tongue that didn't know what response to give. It would expertly shove hers down and push her around like a bully and then slowly smear hers with its warm saliva.

She heard him hum contentedly as he continued to tongue-fuck the girl who had no experience with such things. To him what was the most elementary of sex acts was sending her off the cliff and she was thrilled but at the same time scared. As he continued to move against her, slamming himself onto her, she teared up, knowing for sure that there was no turning back.

They were still in their clothes and he didn't directly touch her skin except for her face and hands.

But to her inexperienced, naive mind, this wasn't 'gaining experience.' It was akin to losing her purity.

As he continued to grind against her, she blushed and wondered where such animalistic tendencies came from, this usually stoic man.

When he slowly drew back and huffed, she whispered, "Uchiha sama..."

She squeezed her eyes shut and begged, "If...if you keep doing 'this,'" she meant grinding his clothed erection against her pelvic region, "what if...I get pregnant?"

He froze, his expression his usual apathetic mask with the slight difference—his widened eyes.

She stammered, blushing and trembling as she voiced her concern, "don't...umm, the things that make babies...do they," she took in a deep breath, "could they travel through clothes?" She did take sex ed classes, but the teachers all tended to just skim through the material of actual intercourse.

He looked stunned. The heat radiating from his body was overwhelming.

"I-I mean," she blubbered, "we...we...especially those 'parts'" she hiccuped, "are as close as they can get."

She spoke in the velocity of light, "I-I heard you can get pregnant with pro-pro-protection!"

She inwardly groaned. This was getting worse. But she was honestly worried. She never did anything even remotely close to what he did.

Then she heard a low, husky groan.

She balked defensively, "I-I ne-need to know!"

But she was silenced as he separated his bottom part from hers and slowly leaned over and pressed his lips over her right eyelid.

Her chest pulsing erratically as she heard him whisper, "Don't worry. No matter how much I want to restore my clan, you won't get a baby soon." He lazily flicked his tongue against her red, tender ear. She heard him chuckle, "You're too much of a baby to have one."

When she tried to reprimand him for his teasing, he quickly swept his mouth over her lips and silenced her with a tender, chaste kiss.

He gingerly pressed his lips on hers once more before dislodging himself from the chair and standing up straight. He gazed down at her as he lazily wiped the saliva drizzling down his chin with the back of his hand.

She looked tired and the sight of her red cheeks and vacant opal eyes aroused him more than it should. He quickly snapped his gaze away.

He announced, "The dobe will wake up in a few days." Her ears perked up at his word. "He had fought with me when he just imparted half of his kurama to you. That made him weaker. That is why he is not easily recovering from my attacks."

He continued, even though she was looking at the ground, refusing to meet his eyes, "But don't mistake me, Hyuuga." His dark eyes narrowed, "As soon as he fully recovers, we'll have our match,"

He raked through her silky blue strands with his long fingers and tilted her face toward him, "and soon there will be only one master for you to serve."


	22. Chapter 22

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Author's: aww so close to finishing the past! Story ! My feelings are bittersweet. I'll probably come back and update a lot. I also updated my last chapter a bit, because of the run-on sentences, dry description, not enough details and that. I really should have broken my last chapter into two.

I tweaked a lot about the Rinnegan and Itachi's powers from the canon. So if there are discrepancies, please understand because it was necessary for the plot.

Gahh, I really don't like how I wrote this chapter. But I didn't to get my outlet out. Please review TT TT Next part will where present! Hinata meets present! Sasuke.

* * *

It was late in the evening when Uchiha stepped into the guarded chamber of Hyuuga. Work has taken up his time, and he didn't mean to come to her at such late an hour. Embarrassed by the untimeliness of his visit, he dry coughed several times onto the back of his fist as he stood behind her bedroom door.

There was somewhere he wanted to take her. Not right at the moment, but the following morning. And he wanted to let her know that he was taking her somewhere that was dear to his heart. What he plans to show her will change her mind about her love for Uzumaki. He hoped.

After a few knocks, he didn't hear any answer. Then something like a spark of intuition went through his head and he flung the door open.

"Hyuuga-"

But all he saw was Hidan, who was supposed to be watching her, fainting on the floor, his chakra points shut down.

The window was open, the night breeze coming into the room and playing with his hair. There was no sign of Hyuuga.

He gritted his teeth, "Uzumaki..."

When he went to the prison, the First Waker was gone, and the prison guards were all knocked out in the similar way as Hidan. Hyuuga has successfully escaped her own little prison and rescued her master.

Too surprised to be even angry, Uchiha patiently waited for Hidan and the guards to wake up. His curiosity over how she escaped was winning him over.

When Hidan finally came back to his senses, Uchiha called his name "Hidan" and said nothing more. But the Akatsuki knew he demanded an explanation as how Hyuuga managed to escape.

But it didn't take long for Uchiha to understand that the innocent Hyuuga decided to put some questionable jutsu she learned from her blond master into practice.

Unbeknownst to Hyuuga, Hidan and the guards had to butt their heads on the floor and do push-ups without using their hands.

* * *

 _splash-_

Dipping a clean towel in a basin of water, Hyuuga carefully wiped off the sweat that beaded on Uzumaki's face. He has been unconscious for three days, and there was no sign of him waking up. Tired of how the Konohan civilians were getting restless and impatient for his recovery, she asked the government to provide a secluded hut where she can have access to medical help and tend to her master. Argos rested at her feet, happy to have his mistress back in Konoha.

The fear that they might lose the First Waker's Pearl's help prompted them to oblige her request, and she has been taking care of Uzumaki ever since.

She felt her heart ache at his state. He would sometimes writhe and murmur things like "Kurama" and "let me out" in his sleep. Thankfully, Uchiha kept his word and halted his attacks on Konohakagure as he promised. But there was no guarantee that he wouldn' t tire of waiting and slash her unconscious master's throat before her eyes.

One of the elderly veteran shinobi of Konoha was by their side, "Hyuuga sama, has something happened to the First Waker?"

She flinched and stared at him with wide eyes. After a pause, she answered. She needed as much help as she can, "Uzumaki sama needs rest."

The shinobi paled, "Even before becoming of age, Uzumaki sama had an amazing ability to recover from even the most traumatic events."

She bit her lip in guilt, and she felt her eyes and nose warming up again. She has been speculating about the reason for his stunted recovery as well, but she wanted to believe that Uzumaki would brush himself off and stand on his feet again. But the shinobi quickly caught her attention, "Hyuuga sama, the ancient scripts about Kurama, the nine fox tailed spirit, states that the junjuriki who hosts them can have private meetings with them in their subconscious."

He continued, "Maybe...you can reach the part of Kyuubi that is in you. You're after all the vessel of the fox spirit's halve."

And he left to stay at post outside the hut.

She looked down at the face of her master. He looked almost asleep. She thought, 'Maybe the shinobi has a point...I do have half of Kurama in me...'

Then she remembered what Uchiha told her in the heat of passion as he ground his body on hers.

 _Send my regards to Kurama_

She blushed and quickly slapped her cheeks. Why did she suddenly remember that?

But then a thought occurred to her, 'Uchiha sama...wouldn't have said that unless he thought I could contact Kurama.'

Suddenly she felt reassurance that she lacked before remembering Uchiha's words.

She clasped her hands to her chest and whispered to the demon fox that supposedly reside in her and her master, "I...don't know what your history is, or...what you like."

Humbling herself, she apologized for disrupting his peace. Then she asked,

"Are you keeping Uzumaki sama hostage? Is that why he's asleep for so long?" Her voice was soft and sorrowful, but there wasn't a hint of resentment or anger. Her tone was coaxing, like a child's.

"If it is okay with you, can you please return him back to me? Many people are going to die again if he doesn't come back."

But then she supposed that the demon fox wouldn't care so much for mere mortals' lives. But that was all she got.

After a pause, she finally said, "So please...don't keep him for so long."

She closed her eyes as in prayer. She hoped that the Kurama's cold heart would be moved and that he hears the sincerity and respect in her plea.

Then she stood up and left. When she saw the shinobi outside the tent, she bowed her head.

"Thank you," she looked at the shinobi who seemed to be a reliable man, "please look after Waker sama and let me know if something goes wrong. I'll see you in the morning."

He nodded and bowed deferentially, "Yes Hyuuga sama."

Exhausted and worried, Hyuuga decided that a good night's sleep was in order. But as soon as she dove into her private tent, she remembered the various nights with the Second Waker, who was now the traitor to the Realm and Konoha.

'But then, maybe he wasn't the traitor to the Realm,' she thought as she blew out her candle. 'His fans would be more than happy to serve them as their king or emperor figure.'

She felt a little bitter, but she quickly dispelled the unpleasant thoughts by remembering something sweet. Like her night walk with the Second that one time before the disaster struck and all things fell apart.

Their night walk from the Uchiha mansion was peaceful enough, but when he stalled her from going inside the tent, she felt the tension between them escalate.

She blushed as she remembered what he said to her _I'm trying._

Taking off her clothes, she became sad, 'I'm a horrible Waker's Pearl...How can I think of my master's enemy who wounded him even when he is lying sick on his bed?'

But she was dying to know what Uchiha meant by him 'trying.' 'What did he mean?' she wondered. 'I wish I can ask him...but that will never happen.' She became sad as she realized that things between them will never be the same. How he became unreachable to her as a star. The thought alone made her want to cry, and she buried her face into the pillow like a child.

As the night deepened and she closes her eyes under her covers, she secretly indulged in the forbidden feelings that he gave her a taste of. In the privacy of her tent and the dark, she would reach her fingers toward her private part and replay what he had told her during the moment.

Her cheeks reddened in the dark. She knew that she was horrible, desiring a man who nearly killed her master. But she wanted to forget about the baseness of her desires, even just for a moment. She'll risk her life for Uzumaki tomorrow when dawn breaks, but just for now she imagined being in the arms of the Second.

As she touched herself, she blushed at the indecency of her imaginations. To feel a little less ashamed of her desire to be at that moment again, she struggled and sighed 'no's' even when she moved in sync with her illusion of Uchiha.

At least imagining that she was saying 'no' made her feel less guilt ridden and shameless.

She murmured, "Ah...no, I shouldn't...please, don't."

When she sated herself to some degree, she panted slightly and turned over and willed herself to sleep.

But then she heard someone call her name _Hyuuga, Hyuuga_

When she opened her eyes, she wasn't in her tent. She was in a strange space full of nothingness except for the rumbling voice that called her.

Then before her she saw a giant blazing animal, four legged, its fur the color of gold gazing down at her with blazing eyes, the goblets of flames.

Even before the creature said anything, she knew who it was.

"You must be," she looked up at him in calm, "Kurama, the spirit who lives in my master."

The demon fox spirit looked down at her and nodded, _I wasn't sure if you had a sense of what it means to be my jinchuuriki._ The blazing animal sneered, baring its teeth, _But it seems that you do have some common sense._

"I," she trembled, "I'm sorry if I offended you in any way. Please..." she looked up to him in tears, "Please bring Uzumaki sama back to us. We need him."

The kyuubi snarled.

 _Why should I care? Whether he is awake or deceased has no effect on me. I'm incarcerated in his body for life._

Then the giant fox's jaws drew into a vicious snare that might actually be its attempt to smile. It was hideous and frightful,

 _But I'm interested in how it will go with you as Uzumaki's twin jinchuriki. I could be lenient and set him free..._

Her face lit up. The diabolical spirit didn't forget to add, _Under one condition._

Hushing her breath, she looked up to him. She didn't want to upset this diabolical fox in any way. Its temperament seemed unpredictable and volatile. She braced for what it might ask in return, but she wasn't prepared for the spirit's demand.

 _You need to find Uchiha's weakness for me._

Stunned, she momentarily just stared at him. Then she bowed her head, shadow beneath her bangs were cast over her features. She murmured, "I can't hurt him..." She felt her heart softening as she remembered how he would look down at her as if he was above everyone else. He always looked too lofty to feel disdain or hate, but too distant to have any love or empathy. She wondered. How come she still felt love for such man and was willing to undergo the wrath of the fox demon and further suffering for him?

Kurama stared down at her and clucked its tongue in a condescending manner. _Human women_ it sneered. _Even the most heartless, bloodthirsty murderer could look as sweet and innocent as a baby to you._

The creature's words pricked at her chest. It was true. There would be times that the Second Waker would look as sweet and harmless as a baby in sleep. She would be tempted to stroke his dark hair that kept falling onto his face but look away when his dark silent eyes happen to meet hers.

Seeing how her defense was crumbling down, the monster decided to wheedle at her. You _don't need to hurt him. All I want is to have a close look at my vessel's enemy. I want to see if he has any weakness I can spot._

She lifted her head and looked at him challengingly, "If I...refuse? What will happen?"

 _I will blow up your body. I exist in you as well. You know that right?_

"If you exist in me," she huffed, "you should know that I am not afraid to die." She herself was surprised by her own words. Perhaps, her pride made her too brazen. She wasn't going to do everything the fox demon orders her to do, just because she chose to be its jinchuriki. If anything, there relationship was supposed to be mutually beneficial, not like a master and slave.

The monster snarled and then finally pulled out its trump card that disintegrated her attempt to look brave.

 _Then your master will never open his eyes. You don't want him dead, do you?_

She froze and stared into the distance. 'I was foolish...' she squeezed her eyes shut, 'This is a demon. It doesn't matter how long he had known Uzumaki sama. It is going to let him die unless I do what it says.'

Seeing how she was shaken, Kurama grinned, baring its teeth in an aggressive smile and softened its tone,

 _All I need you to do is go see Uchiha, Hyuuga. If you do just that, I will let Uzumaki go._

There was silence for a moment. Finally she opened her mouth, "Another thing..."

The fox spirit fell silent as it lent its ears to her overly soft voice, "I heard from Uzumaki sama that you have tried to possess his body on more than one occasions. Promise me that you won't do that to me."

There was a good minute or two of additional silence. The monster was thinking. She struggled to not twiddle her fingers and show signs that she is nervous. The shrewd devil was sure to catch signs of her weakness and take advantage of it.

Finally Kurama grunted in clear displeasure and nodded curtly.

 _I give you my word. If I don't release your master...you can seal me._

When puzzlement graced her face, the monster grunted at her ignorance and explained,

 _That means you will lock down my powers and I will have no control unless you release me by calling for my name._

When she still hesitated, Kurama conjured a vision of Uzumaki, as vivid as if he was between them. He was fighting in his own world with the other Kurama. The other fox spirit slung him around as if he weighed no more than a bean bag, and she gasped as she saw him slam against a stone wall. Mortars and stone fell on his collapsed form like an avalanche.

"Uzumaki sama!" she cried. The sight of him in pain tightened her chest in agony. She bowed before the fox demon. She had no choice.

"Stop," her voice was low and muffled, "let him go...You don't have to torment him because of my stubbornness."

She whispered, "I'll do as you say. But...don't go back on your word."

The fox looked down at her determined eyes that showed anger as she warned, "Don't go back on your word."

All she could hear was the echo of Kurama's answer, _I promise,_ as the whiteness of the background faded and she was back in her tent.

* * *

 _Intruder Alert! Intruder Alert!_

Several kunoichis came flying at her with their daggers and kunais, but Hyuuga quickly evaded their attack with a single fluid movement and knocked them out with her inner wrists and flattened palms.

He couldn't believe that she was before his eyes even when she was fighting off the people who tried to push her back or capture her. As he stood on the rooftop, he watched her in her fighting stance.

"What business do you have here?" Haruno appeared before her and flashed out her kunai in her hand, "Traitor!"

Hyuuga remained silent. It was odd to her. From her perspective, Haruno, the Akatsukis, and the Palace's militia forces were the traitors. What she thought as absolutes-duties, loyalties-they were harder to pin down than she previously thought.

She tightened her fists and whispered to Kurama, "As long as I see him face to face...you'll let Uzumaki sama go?"

The beast in her chuckled, _Of course. As soon as I feel that I had enough to play with, I'll let your beloved master free._

Hyuuga steeled her resolve. All that matters right now is Uzumaki waking up. She spoke to Haruno with irreproachable calm, "I've come for your master. I need to speak with him."

Haruno growled, "You shall not come near my sovereign."

Hyuuga groaned, "Haruno...let me pass. Uzumaki sama is in danger."

At her words, Haruno's emerald eyes started to show signs of turmoil. Hyuuga prayed that it was leniency.

But soon a fist flew onto her face, and Hyuuga barely dodged the earth shattering blow. As Haruno packed the force of her chakra into her punches, Hyuuga activated her twin lion fists and danced her way around the attacks.

As always, Haruno's punches are shot with deadly linearity and speed, and Hyuuga felt her strength waning as she tried to land kicks in vain.

When Haruno scooted off, she glared at Hyuuga, "Why aren't you giving you all, Hyuuga? Are you trying to mock me?"

Panting, her opponent grasped her stomach, "I-I'm not, Haruno...My-my master is ill. I-I've been giving my chakra to sustain him."

Then suddenly behind them, Uchiha appeared. He gracefully landed on the ground and stared straight into Hyuuga's surprised face. He asked monotonously, "What brings you here?"

Haruno stared back at her sovereign in spell bound mesmerization. Hyuuga looked at him with dread. The difference between their expressions was so poignant that it was hard for him to not notice.

For a moment Hyuuga merely stared at him, her eyes widening in fear and something deeper that was hard to identify.

She then shook her head frantically. She inwardly spoke to Kurama, _I can go now right? Now set Uzumaki sama free._ The beast sneered, _Not so fast. I want you to hang out with him more._ She snapped, _He has no weakness. This is all I can show you._ Kurama threatened her, _If you don't want your master to be chokled to death, you better do as I say._

Hyuuga's weird behavior made Haruno wonder, 'What is wrong with her? Maybe she really just wanted to see Uchiha sama once once and go?'

"Hyuuga," his deep voice infiltrated through Hyuuga's inner turmoil and shattered her defenses too quickly.

She tried to speak but then Uchiha quickly cut in. "Follow me." He turned. "There's somewhere I must take you."

When Hyuuga stalled, the inward voice of Kurama snapped at her _Follow him! Or else, I will paw through Uzumaki's innards!_

With a gasp, she ran after him. She told her inner Kyuubi, "Just...a few more hours. And then you must release him or your powers are gone."

The creature sniggered, _Of course, Waker's Pearl. Of course. But I think that it is you who doesn't want to leave the Uchiha._

* * *

"U-Uchiha sama," her legs felt like they were going to give away. They have been walking for so long. For some reason, Uchiha insisted on walking on foot instead of riding summons or leaping from tree to tree. She had no idea where they were heading and why they were at the mortals' ground.

He didn't even turn or look back at her when she called. He asked, "What is it?"

She felt her body slightly shivering from apprehension. She didn't want to give the chance for the demon inside her to spot his weakness. But she also didn't want to leave her master out on his own in Konoha. "Wh-where are we going?"

He was quiet for a moment and then said, "Somewhere that I know."

She followed him quietly, just a few steps behind. Better to get it over with, she thought. She then asked, "Is the place...dear to you?"

After a short pause, he drily answered, "I suppose."

Her voice was carried by the wind that carried snow in the middle of spring, "Is it...a house?"

"No," he answered, "not necessarily."

"Is it..." she asked more tentatively, "a grave?" There was so much death around him, even at an age of innocence. That was her best guess.

"No," he answered softly, as if they were playing some "to and fro" guessing game. He continued to say, "New things can't come out of graves."

"Then why," her voice trembled from grief, "did you..." She just can't get the rest of her question out. Day by day she struggled with the smell of death that he left in Konoha. She wanted to ask him why he had to kill so many and create so many fresh graves. Why does he have to kill the entire village. But she just can't get the question out. Because in her heart, she knew the answer. The man walking ahead of her had a damaged soul.

His dark eyes gleamed as he stared straight ahead, "When your brother that you looked up to killed your parents, leaving you an orphan overnight, that alone is enough to drive you to insanity. But imagine if you later learn that the villagers were all complicit in their death...They toyed with your ignorance, letting you believe that your brother was simply a mad man."

She stayed quiet. She knew the story of Uchiha from her master's account, but hearing it from him was different.

She can't possibly fathom having her brother kill her entire family, including her parents in a night. And if she were to learn that her brother had no other choice but to massacre his clan so she can live and grow stronger...she wouldn't be herself.

He continued, "When Itachi died, I finally learned the truth about the hidden leaf's role. And that is why I am going to obliterate Konoha from the face of the earth."

She remained quiet. She understood why he is determined to kill off the ones responsible for his clan's death. But demanding the entire village, including the young, to satiate his desire for revenge ...She just couldn't understand. But then she isn't in his shoes. She would never know. But she wondered, would this have been what his brother Itachi wanted? For his younger brother to cave to a self demolishing urge to see everyone's blood?

Ironically, it was due to her quiet, observant nature that Hyuuga became pretty good at making pleasant conversations with people. She learned quickly how to ask the right questions to get the flow of the conversation moving. Listening was her forte anyways, not leading conversations.

She asked, "So...the place you're taking me. It's where something new began for you."

She took his silence as a form of agreement. She asked, "Where is...this place, Uchiha sama?"

He finally stopped. It has been two hours since they walked. He spoke in a low, raspy voice, "Here."

Surrounded by mountains that barred it from civilizations, a lonely hut stood in the middle of a plain of bright yellow and purplish red thistles. Smoke was rising from the chimney, showing signs of life and activity.

Hyuuga followed Uchiha timidly as he walked up to the door and knocked several times.

As time passed and nobody answered, she wondered if he had to knock again but he remained still as if it was natural to wait so long for the door to open.

Then finally, the door creaked open and she saw an old man with a hunched back and strong, broad shoulders. His eyes had a bluish milky color, suggesting that he was suffering from cataracts. His strong hands were covered in soot.

The scowl on the old man's face lightened up as he registered the smell of rain and smoke in the air, "You came."

Uchiha nodded and entered the hut by lowering his posture to not get his head bumped by the low ceiling. Hyuuga just entered the small hut without such difficulty.

She looked around the hut in wonder. In a far corner was a glowing orange furnace and stacks of poles hanging on hooks made of stainless steel. There was a variety of swords, not just ancient Japanese swords, hanging on the wall and a wide wooden table where the master artisan creates carved patterns on the metal blades.

"This is where I bring kusanagi," the stoic man answered her unspoken question. He nodded at the old man who took his sword with both of his hands, "I don't trust it to any other swordsmith than the one who made it for me."

Pearlescent eyes looked at the swordsmith who began to use his tactile senses to diagnose kusanagi's condition.

She looked at the aged artist in wonder, "So he made kusanagi..."

Uchiha nodded, scrutinizing kusanagi along with the swordsmith. The crippled artist looked far too focused on kusanagi that she was sure he wasn't even listening to their conversation.

When the swordsmith waddled away in an awkward gait to polish kusanagi, Uchiha and Hyuuga were left alone for a moment.

She asked cautiously, "How old were you?" She looked around the dingy crafts shop that forged various blades, "when you gripped kusanagi?"

He looked intently at the old man who proceeded to prepare the art of polishing his sword. He answered brusquely, "Seven. But I only got to learn the art when I was fourteen."

She glanced at him with eyes that showed sympathy and some pity, 'So young...He got the sword almost as soon as he lost his family.'

Uchiha asked the swordsmith in his characteristically cold tone, "How long would it take?"

Shoving his spectacles over his nose, the swordsmith bowed a little and peered at the magnified edge of the sword, "As usual."

He nodded in content and went outside of the bladesmith's hut. Not wanting to expose him further to Kurama's eyes, Hyuuga stood where she was in the hut.

She turned at the bladesmith's kind voice, "Why don't you take a seat here, miss?" The bladesmith oiled his wiping cloth, "I can't offer tea. Not used to having pretty ladies, as you can see. But you may have some rest."

"Th-thank you..." She stammered. She thought she made her presence as inconspicuous as she could. She nervously sat down on a dirty stool she found. She continued to look mesmerized by the grand display of swords around her. No kunai. No spears. Just swords. Some might have travelled from different dimensions of time.

But a thought occurred to her, 'But having a sword customized by a master swordsmith requires an exorbitant amount of money.' She wondered, 'where did young Uchiha sama get the money from? Sure, he might have had his family's wealth, but nobody would just hand such enormous property at the hands of a six year old child.'

"You have questions about Uchiha sama, don't you?"

She turned to him, her pearlescent eyes widening and face blushing. The bladesmith chuckled and continued, "I might be nearly blind, miss, but," he grinned, showing amazingly good teeth for his age, "I still have a pretty keen sense when it comes to my customers' minds."

"Can," she hesitated, "I ask about Uchiha sama?"

"Of course," the bladesmith smiled good naturedly as he turned his focus back to kusanagi. If the situation wasn't so serious and dire, she might have giggled and imagined the bladesmith to be in love with kusanagi, so intent was his concentration.

"I...was wondering how Uchiha sama got his sword. He was just six. Buying a sword is already expensive, but having a master like you customize kusanagi..."

"He didn't." The bladesmith popped a cigar into his mouth as he gingerly sprayed clear water over a giant polishing stone on his counter.

Then he started his story.

"I retired for some time now because of my eyes, but I used to be quite famous for making swords, miss. At my prime, my clients were kings, princes, and warriors who made their names with the shinobi nobility."

She nodded. She believed in his words. The fact that Uchiha would still come to him to take care of his sword alone attests to the trust he has in this old man's skills.

The man started rubbing the blade deliberately across the wet polishing stone, "So of course, I was cocky as well. I had my sight and straight back then. I really felt I had nothing to fear. Except being jaded, of course. I had too many customers who thought buying swords was some expensive, aristocratic pastime."

Sweat started to bead on his tan forehead, and he sat up to wipe his forehead with a handkerchief. Then he rubbed the blade of kusanagi again on the polishing stone and continued his story.

"Years ago, I saw this young boy coming to my workshop. Just some pretty looking boy. Looked six or seven. Dirt poor. Scared out of his wits. He obviously came from somewhere far."

Hyuuga's dusky brows knitted as she imagined six year old Uchiha visiting a swordsmith's hut all by himself, motivated by no other desire than to avenge his parents. The hut is at the periphery of the Fire Nation, so who knows what he had to endure in order to get a famed sword.

"He bowed on the floor and asked for a sword."

Hyuuga felt herself swept by the current of the bladesmith's narrative as he continued, "When I demanded money, he handed me a blue necklace, saying that it belonged to his mother."

Just imagining her sovereign as a young boy, holding out what must be his mother's only momento in his small pale hand, lanced through her chest. She felt her nose wrinkling and heated.

"At first, miss, I just thought he was just looking for a cool looking toy. He didn't really...look like warrior material. Pale like chalk. Prettier than most girls his age. I thought I didn't have time for such juvenile customers, so I threw him some old battered sword that was just one of my failed pieces."

He pointed at a clutter of swords lying by his little dumpster bin. Some of the blades were ragged from negligent polishing or a mishap in the traditional folding technique that removes impurities from the metal. Sword making was an elaborate process. She was not surprised to see the numerous failures. He must have discarded them as soon as he realized that they were imperfect.

"He was so happy, he bowed to me as if I saved his life, over and over on the floor, clutching it like it was his treasure."

"Then one day, the same boy came back, fuming like crazy. He must have almost lost his life, using what I gave him. He threw down the broken sword on the ground and looked at me with the coldest eyes I've ever seen in my life. He was a different boy. It was...unsettling to say the least to see such eyes on a young boy's face. He stretched out his palm to me and demanded that I give him back his mother's necklace that he gave up for the sorry excuse of a sword."

His voice rose by a pitch, "I was excited. Finally someone who can tell a sword from another. Someone deserving of my art. So I spent days and days, weeks, and I finally created kusanagi. He has been a dedicated customer to me since."

Hyuuga was silent. It was a side of Uchiha she had never known. All she could hear was the sound of a sharp metal blade sliding against wet marble.

"There was something unusual about his visit this time though."

Her eyes widened owlishly as she tilted her head in confusion. The bladesmith noticed her curiosity and continued,

"For one, he never brought anyone with him to my shop. He always came alone."

She asked, "Do you know...why?"

"He isn't the most social, but I think the bigger reason is...it didn't sit well on him to not have his sword. He has so many enemies. Who knows if suddenly someone tries to take advantage of his 'swordlessness.'"

At his words, she blushed a little bit. She can't help feeling fluttery at her chest. Not even Haruno, his own Waker's Pearl, accompanied him to the hut.

"The second odd thing, haha" the bladesmith laughed as he finished the work and lifted his spectacle and peered at the blade, "I probably shouldn't tell you, in case I incite his anger." There was a mysterious twinkle to his eyes. She wondered if he was really blind.

* * *

Uchiha stood over the cliffs in the deep forests. He simply stood there and admired the view. An alternative that nature provides to sitting in the hut and waiting for the old man to finish the task.

A cool summer breeze blew his black hair across his face as he stared down from the dangerously steep cliff, the ravine where watery rapids looked dark blue green. He idly imagined plummeting down to the depths of the cliff as he hold a morbid fascination of death by sharp jagged rocks or ice water. But his face betrayed nothing.

In his pocket underneath his dark cape, he slowly rolled the piece of jewelry that he had given up years ago. For some reason, when he offered monetary payment to the man, the bladesmith obstinately refused and gave him a wink and a pat on a shoulder as he gave him back the necklace. He remembered feeling somewhat irked and confused by the unusual merriment of the gesture. Neither he nor the old man were ever affectionate with each other.

Then he heard gentle foot steps behind him.

Hyuuga's eyes widened like a surprised bunny rabbit when he suddenly spun around and looked at her intently. Strands of her dark blue hair played around by her face as a quiet breeze passed by.

Her face then returned to its polite, deferential mask as she bowed her head before him, "The...blacksmith wanted me to tell you...that it would take another half an hour."

Uchiha frowned. He was puzzled, because it wasn't customary for the blacksmith to tell him how much time was left. He was perfectly content to wait, so he didn't see the point he sent Hyuuga all the way to just tell him the simple fact.

"Umm, I" she started poking her fingers together, "I wonder if...I'm not just impinging on this moment, Uchiha sama."

His eyes narrowed, asking her what she meant by 'impinging on the moment.' Hyuuga can never be an intrusive presence.

She murmured, her eyes lowered to the grass that swayed by her sandaled feet, "Maybe I should...go?"

"Don't." She started at his decisive tone. He was annoyed. She has been working herself out to get away from his plane of sight as soon as possible. He would do nothing to harm her. _Why was she trying to run away?_ Now he understood why the old blacksmith pushed her to look for him.

He moved towards her and passed by her side. Understanding his message, she hurried to follow him, trailing a step behind him as always. She would never tell him, but she liked seeing his back. His broad shoulders and height made it seem as if he can defeat anything. She could follow him forever like this.

As they started to see the hut, he began to speak, "The old smith knows respect and honor. He kept my mother's necklace until I came back to retrieve it and pay him with money instead."

"Ah..." She cast her eyes downward as horrible visages of dying Konohans crossed her mind. They didn't foresee that they'll give up their lives for desiring the Uchiha heirlooms. She was glad that the kind bladesmith escaped such fate. But then Uchiha would never entrust the only surviving momento of his mother to anyone who might be prone to lust for money or fame.

When they were several yards from the hut, he suddenly stopped and turned toward her.

He withdrew his hands from his trouser pocket and looked at her as if he was intending to pierce her face with his stare.

A wind blew, swaying Hyuuga's long indigo tresses across her pale, surprised face.

His fist by his side tightened into a painful clench. He spoke in a low, calm voice, but his averted eyes and reddened neck gave away that he was nervous and unsettled, "This...is something special to me. The one thing that I managed to protect from my past."

Every part of him before the massacre-he has lost. He doesn't remember clearly what kind of boy he was. This was all he got.

He extended his fist toward Hyuuga and unfurled his fingers, showing a necklace made with shimmering beads that are dyed blue, "My father gave this to my mother, and" he worried his lip during the pause and finally continued, "she gave it to me and not Itachi for some reason."

His mind was submerged in reveries of his lost childhood, "It was almost as if she knew 'it' was coming."

She understand that he meant the 'massacre' by 'it.' Her chest started aching, and she wanted to cry but she didn't want to show him her tears of weakness.

His body drew closer to her as if it had a mind of its own, "Hyuuga..." His eyes darkened with desire and his voice deepened with melancholic yearning.

She stared at him, her lips quivering and tears that she was fighting back were forming. His voice had an undercurrent of vulnerability that she just can't slap away, "Would you..."

She kept seeing the young boy who asked for a sword in the man standing before her. The same hand that held out his mother's necklace more than ten years ago was reaching out to someone else once again, but with a different purpose. She blinked her eyes back. There was the man again, the person the young boy has grown up to. A strong-willed, powerful man who was also incredibly broken.

Repeating the emotional sacrifice made him feel choked in the throat, but he fought to keep his composure.

Her pearlescent eyes narrowed in sheer agony as she pulled her hands to her chest as he came closer, begging her to accept the gift. Her heart palpitated as she looked at the man tenderly. In her eyes, she still saw the boy.

But the demonic, droning voice of Kyuubi fell on the man and woman like a fiery avalanche- _Finally_

She pushed him away with all her might.

As Hyuuga staggered to the ground, a golden arm of fire with clawed hands sprouted from her back and attacked Uchiha with a malicious swipe.

He flew into the air and his back smashed against the trees that fell down like dominos by the sheer blow. When he landed on the last tree, he rolled down the ground and stared at Hyuuga in shock.

The rings of chakra that the monster was radiating from her body felt like fire burning her to cinders.

When she blinked her eyes and saw Uchiha, he was groaning as his hand wrapped around his left rib. 'Oh no,' her eyes watered, 'he must have broken his rib cage.'

She lifted herself up with much effort and rushed forward to him as quickly as her aching body can, "Waker sama-"

Then suddenly, someone held her arm hostage, and when she looked back, she saw who it was-Uzumaki, enveloped in golden flames and light and suspended in air, his feline eye lids underlined with orange pigment.

He wasn't looking at her. He was looking at the pained Uchiha with eyes full of fierce rage. His jaw clenched and his teeth bared slightly in a possessive manner.

"You can't trust him, Hyuuga," his gruff, low voice held menace, "He'll cut you down without thought. I had to learn it the hard way."

Uzumaki returned the bewildered expression on Uchiha's face with a deeply furious look.

He gently pulled Hyuuga to him and took a step to protect her from Uchiha's eyes that glared daggers, "Stay back."

The warm smile on his face would have been contagious if he didn't praise her for her deceit in front of Uchiha, "Thank you, Hyuuga. You saved my life right there."

The pain that came from his fractured ribs shot through his body but he managed to get his words out, "What do you mean...Uzumaki?"

"Hyuuga made a deal with Kyuubi. He freed me once Hyuuga showed him your weakness."

Uzumaki's words delivered a deep blow to his chest, and suddenly Uchiha felt as if he was unable to breath.

His pale fingers dug into the soil and uprooted the tender grass of spring around him. His mother Mikoto's necklace hung around his fingers like tightly coiling chains. Part of the blue necklace slithered amid the thin blades of grass as his fist trembled. Once again, he has been betrayed. He should've known that she never would have come to the Palace on her own accord. The look on her eyes that he saw as he begged her to accept the gift must have been an illusion concocted by his pathetic brain. A small part of him thanked her. For being so fucking consistent.

When Uzumaki took a step toward Uchiha, determined to end this bloodbath once and for all, he felt a tight grip on his sleeve, "No, don't."

He gritted his teeth and pushed forward, but she dragged her body along with him, "He doesn't have his sword."

Feeling his pride plummet to the ground, Uchiha glared at the two as if he wanted nothing more than to spike their heads with kusanagi, "I can take on your damn lover without my sword. Stay back." Indeed as he closed his eyes and blinked them open, blood red glowing stars formed on his dark irises and he looked ready to slice them open with his glare.

His words pelted at her like ice shards. He hated her. She knew it. And this time, he deserved to hate her. But she continued to argue for his sake. She looked up to Uzumaki beneath her long lashes soaked with tears, "He...has willingly shown his vulnerability. Ultimately it was him who has set you free, not me."

At her words, Uzumaki started to calm down. Even in his rage, he recognized the truth in her words. If Uchiha wasn't so in love with her, this wouldn't have come so easily.

His golden eyes framed with orange shadows looked down at Uchiha, "If you evacuate the Palace of the people...I can fight you there."

Uchiha roared, "I said we fight here!" He did a quick series of hand jutsus and a blue orb formed between his hands and then he cried out a maddening shriek as the orb grew and encased his entire body. The sheer force of the magnified chakra field sent trees to bend beneath his will, and Uzumaki towered over Hyuuga, enveloping her in a protective golden orb of his own.

Then a streak of lightning fell from the sky and kusanagi was back in the Second Waker's hand. The ragged ribbon that coiled around kusanagi's silvery body unfurled and revealed its cold, icy beauty.

She shuddered at the sight of the pure madness in his red eyes.

"Hyuuga," Uzumaki's low voice called her attention, "Go to the Palace. Evacuate everyone immediately."

"What about Konoha?" If she left Konoha exposed and vulnerable, Uchiha might choose a different route and attack there.

"Hyuuga," his blue eyes stared at how the cursed seal started to grow like lava that poured over Uchiha's body.

"Where ever you go...Uchiha will follow you." It pained him that his friend who he gave up his humanity and home for was going to die in his hands or vice versa. No, he has to kill Uchiha. Considering his own demise was not an option. Who knows what will happen to Hyuuga if he dies. He can't leave Hyuuga in his friend's clutches.

* * *

As she heard the sounds of crashes above her, the midnight haired girl with opal eyes stared at the surroundings of Kabuto's underground laboratory. The darkness of the laboratory made it hard for her to understand how much time has passed. It could be just a few hours. Or maybe a week has passed. The sounds of destruction above were the only indicator that both Uzumaki and Uchiha were still alive.

'Where was Haruno? Is she hiding somewhere too? Is she...helping Uchiha sama?'

Perhaps she should have done what Haruno did. Sticking to a side and beating up those who are against them. Being loyal to the fault where killing someone who used to smile at her and know her was necessary. To be loyal...

Tears formed at her eyes, 'I can't choose sides...I just can't.' She knew she was being a coward, but she can never willingly contribute to any of the Wakers' death.

Argos pecked gently at her shoulder. He was worried that Hyuuga was slowly losing her inner light that attracted him to serving her at first place.

Meanwhile, Kabuto was raging in the corner of his lab, seeing the destruction of his experiments, "Those idiots...those monsters. How dare they! How dare they!"

She was bemused by the irony of her hiding place. Of all places where she would hide from her two masters' fight, she would hide in Kabuto's laboratory. The very sensei who joined those who bullied her and even tried to kill her.

She asked with a hint of disinterest, "Why don't you evacuate like the others?"

He glared daggers at her as if she was the source of all this trouble, "No, I built my everything here! I'm staying until one of them dies!"

"Do you have a preference, Kabuto san?" She felt that she would go crazy if she doesn't talk to someone, even if it was someone like Kabuto.

The grey haired Akatsuki grunted as he rummaged over his documents like a mad man, "For the bonding of the Akatsukis, Uchiha's survival would be the best. Also, I spent so much of my time and resources on sustaining and making a weapon out of Itachi's rinnegan. It would be a waste if the brat is to die and my discoveries are to be shot to oblivion."

Kabuto was being surprisingly open. 'The cryptic, sly man must have been really pushed to the brink,' she observed.

Hyuuga nodded. She got the affirmation of Kabuto's madness that she really didn't need.

She pulled her knees to her chest and buried her face in her arms. Sounds of further destruction resonated through the air.

As she sat alone in the corner of Kabuto's laboratory, she pondered at the sight of the various documents on the powers of the sharingan and the rinnegan. She thought, 'How strange...For Uchiha sama to be so obsessed with his past brother's Rinnegan. There is nothing about Itachi's Rinnegan that is superior or markedly different from his own...Why does he want his brother's Rinnegan? For what use?"

Then, she heard the booming voice of her master Uzumaki calling her, _Hyuuga!_

Drawn by the chakra interwoven voice that summoned her Waker's Pearl abilities, she felt her heart beating like a drum as her eyes glowed with heated white rays and she soared above from the underground.

She broke through the surface of the ground and when she looked down, she was above the courtyard in the air.

Uchiha and Uzumaki were engaged in their battle, but Haruno was about to land a punch on the latter.

Her byakugan blazed with anger and Hyuuga descended onto Haruno and swiftly round kicked her on the side.

"Hyuuga!" Both Uzuamki and Uchiha were absorbed their clashing exchanges of kunai and katana, "Hold Haruno back for me!"

"Yes!" Then her twin lion fists activated as she lunged on Haruno. Now that Uzumaki came back with his powers intact, she can feel a surge of energy that didn't exist before. The sadness that kept her sluggish was suddenly gone, and she felt the vigor of battle pulsing through her body.

Haruno suddenly leaped to the roof tiles and Hyuuga pursued her. Both of them skidded through the tiles, and when the uprooted tiles ascended to the air, Haruno kicked each of them and sent them flying to Uzumaki.

Hyuuga's eyes narrowed as she saw the tiles slice through the air and charge against her master. She spread out her hands. A blue web of chakra blades stretched out and sliced through the tiles like paper before they can reach him.

Then suddenly she saw Haruno's face up against her and how she withdrew momentarily to smash a punch on her face.

Hyuuga quickly fell down to avoid the punch and then lifted her legs up and kicked Haruno on the chin as she somersaulted her way out of her attack range.

"Urrgh!" Haruno crouched over and lost her balance as she fell from the roof and down to the ground.

After she crashed onto the floor, she lied amidst the broken tiles and groaned.

And then she saw Hyuuga charging on her, ready to land a gentle fist or some chakra sealing attack.

When she lifted her arms to brace herself, she felt...nothing. Haruno tentatively opened her eyes and saw her master, Uchiha grabbing Hyuuga by the throat and staring at her with his activated sharingan.

Hyuuga froze and then suddenly her byakugan drifted shut as she collapsed to the ground as if she was dead.

Uzumaki for a moment, stared at his Waker's Pearl who fell under Uchiha's genjitsu.

Then his desperate cry echoed across the entire place, "Hyuuga!"

* * *

When she was brought back to her consciousness, she felt the lukewarm temperature of the floor where she was lying. Her cheek was pressed to the floor that felt smooth as marble. Placing her hand to the floor, she slowly lifted herself up.

She blinked her eyes and saw darkness everywhere until she spotted him, his silhouette outlined with sentient light that moved according to his gestures.

He was turning his back to her. Even without him telling her, she knew where she was. She was in his genjutsu.

"Uchiha sama..." Her gentle voice called him. When he turned and stared down at her, she didn't expect any kind of mercy.

But neither did she feel any pain. If he wasn't going to torture her, why did he lock her in a genjusu? "Why have you brought me here?" she asked.

"I brought you..." his dark eyes that looked down at her held a glint of danger. "to make an offer."

She didn't say anything. Her wary eyes couldn't find anything to trust about him.

But she started when he said what the offer might entail, "It can save your master's life."

She slowly rose to her feet. Her lips trembled, "Then...then you're not going to fight him? Are you...going to spare Konoha?" Hope started to bud like a flower.

He stared at her, her all consuming purity that is different and alien in nature from his undiluted hate. He continued, "...It depends on whether you adhere to my suggestion."

Slowly a vicious sneer emerged on his face, sending chills down her spine, "You don't want your master to die in front of you, do you?" The smile vanished quickly and he recovered his expression of well masked cruelty, "Then that leaves you an ultimatum."

 _klang-_

Suddenly he threw at her feet, what looked like an ordinary kunai. Puzzled, she stared at the kunai and then lifted her eyes to his face,

"Waker sama...what is this?"

"This kunai is made with the past Second's Rinnegan. It is the only weapon that can instantly kill a Waker with the rinnegan's six paths techniques. Ripping off the victim's soul."

Her widened pearlescent eyes stared at him. She looked as if someone knocked the breath out of her.

He returned her gaze with his apathetic eyes, "Itachi... had intentionally fueled my hatred against him. So that he can die in my hands."

She shook her head and murmured, "I don't...understand." A growing dread was gripping her heart like a hand of ice. She knew that it wasn't his genjutsu. It was her own emotional response.

He continued, "He waited to die in my hands as he suffered from an illness. His chakra exhaustion and refusal to protect himself ended in his death."

His hand reached to his face and he chuckled darkly, "How ironic...I'm giving you the same present my beloved older brother has given me. Pure hate...and bitter remembrance."

His bright red eyes glowed in a way that was befitting of his various terrifying nicknames, "If you don't want your precious 'angel sama' to die, then you'll have to commit the ultimatum-killing me."

She gasped and then slowly the realization of what he was offering dawned on her. Tears started to flow down her face as she bowed her head and squeezed her eyes shut.

She then looked up at him, "This kunai...you want me to use it to...rip off your soul?"

But then she felt strong fingers capture her chin and yank her face up so she can look into his cold eyes, "Did you think that I'll let you have your happiness with the First?"

Her eyes no longer held fear. Instead they held overwhelming sorrow. Somehow the sorrow in her eyes flamed his anger at her, their situation that keeps getting entangled in a mesh of misunderstandings and hate, where nothing goes right and they have to just hate eachother, and most of all, himself. Her tears reminded him of how actually powerless he is to rectify their cursed situation and he barked back against the silent tirade of her tears. He just couldn't understand why in the damn hell he had to play this part. Where even cradling her tearful face between his hands, he had to continue crushing her heart that bled for him at that moment. Where apology and confession will only play the part of added insult.

As he yelled at her face, she kept staring at him with those eyes that streamed with tears. Tears of grief and compassion that drove him mad.

"Whenever you have a moment of bliss with Uzumaki, you'll always think of me" he brought her face closer to his. She struggled to stay strong and conscious despite the sickening pit of her stomach as he refused to let her go, "You can be married, have a first child. And see your children with Uzumaki grow. But you'll always know that the price of your happiness was taking my life."

When his dark eyes looked straight into hers, she didn't avert her glance or try to tear her face away from his hands, "Your happiness with Uzumaki will be at the blood on your hands. My blood. And it'll invade your every breath and dream, as you share your bed with your 'so-called happiness.'"

Then his fingers that grabbed her chin travelled down her neck and his other hand cupped her face,"No matter how much you try to hide it or resist it," his even, warm breath mixed with sounds of her hyperventilating "I will always, always be in your mind."

When he withdrew both of his hands from her, she collapsed to the ground on her knees.

As he looked down at her, he smirked as he saw the growing despair in her eyes, _I'll give you the same present my aniki has given me. You'll never be able to forget me, ever._

When he dropped to his knee and looked down at her, he asked in a velvety, coaxing tone, "Or maybe you do want to be with me?" He couldn't help a bit of his damn hopefulness getting in his voice.

She merely hung her head down. She was silent, but her body was convulsing with her struggle to hold in her tears.

He turned his face away dismissively as he stood up, "I thought so." His tone was as bitter as it can be.

He was feeling the First Waker trying to break down his genjutsu that he cast on her. He delivered his intentions. Now it was enough. He announced that he was done talking to her, "Your master begs for my attention."

When he tried to move away and break the illusion, he felt a small hand on the ankle part of his boot stopping him.

"No, please..." she hung on to the sole of his foot as she sprawled across the floor, her long midnight blue hair falling into silky cascades and pooling on the dark marble.

He looked down at her and wondered _Why was she so beautiful even in the midst of despair?_ Even hanging at his boot and sprawled on the ground, she was absolutely gorgeous and breathtaking. The way her hair spread across her body reminded him of exquisite night lilies that used to grow in his childhood garden and lure him to touch their flowing petals.

"You...you said that you're willing to try." She appealed to the side of him that he bared to her that night in Konoha. The night he told her that he was trying. _I'm trying, Hyuuga._

Her tears fell on the floor, threatening to melt his heart, "You said that you...you wanted me."

He flinched slightly at her words.

She finally lifted her face to him and begged at his feet, " So please...don't make me do this..."

He looked down at her for a while. She noticed how his eyes softened but his words quickly dashed her hopes, "It's me or Uzumaki. One of us has to die. We can't coexist."

He gritted his teeth. No matter what others say, whether they curse him for making an angel cry, he _deserved_ to be nailed to her memories. If he can't have her, then he'll at least take that part of her with him forever.

"If you don't kill me, then I'll kill Uzumaki and every living being in Konoha. Then I'll have you, Hyuuga."

She released her grip on his foot but still looked up at him, "You could only have me...dead or as a slave. Is that the only way I can now come to you? A slave? What's the use of me being the only one to survive if I become a slave?" Her shivering voice could only deliver so much hurt and anguish. That her beloved and worshipped teacher for whom she was willing to follow him to the depths of hell would not feel a speck of remorse killing her master and enslaving her. Her heart was tearing itself apart at this moment.

He resolutely turned his face away, but his eyes traveled back to her shivering form. His voice became soft as he felt his heart caving in at the sight of her distress, "Many women lived that life. Maybe you'll accept that as your fate as well." Knowing that wasn't the answer she wanted, his voice turned icier "I'll...give you some time to decide on what to do. But if you take too much time, I'll end things my way."

Then he broke the genjutsu, and she was back in the main courtyard. In her hand was the kunai he gave her.

At the corner of his sharingan, he saw her clutching the kunai and slowly dragging herself into the shadows of the palace.

He told himself as he saw Uzumaki charging against him in his sage mode, 'It's too late...It's too late.'

As he delivered and received blows from Uzumaki, he told himself over and over, 'I'm...too broken from inside. Broken beyond repair. All I have left is my revenge, and I can't back down. If I'm going to die without my revenge...I would rather die at her hands than Uzumaki's or anyone else.'

* * *

She dragged her feet across the tiles. Her eyes were listless.

If she were to use the kunai against Uchiha, he would die and she would live with the memory of his sardonic remarks and smiles that hid under scowls. She would be haunted by memories of his seemingly careless but attentive remarks on her martial progress and social relationships. Of his hands that pawed at her body and caress her in gentle ways that make her feel alive and treasured. She would never see him again, and she'll have nobody but herself to curse for his death.

She loved him. As hard as he tried to hurt her, she would do anything to see his smile again.

But if she doesn't use this...Uchiha will no doubt ruthlessly kill her master and it would be her fault for not taking the opportunity. How can she survive, knowing that her inaction caused her sunny master to die on the cold floor?

She gripped the kunai. Tear drops fell on the metal blade. She already knew the end of the story. She delicately wiped the tear from the blade and looked down at her blurry reflection. Yes...she will bring the end to the story.

* * *

Kabuto didn't expect the First Waker's Pearl to visit him in his disintegrating laboratory.

She extended a kunai to him and smiled, but her eerie white eyes looked hollow as if she lost everything she loved. The smile didn't reach her eyes. Her puffy red eyes were obvious.

Her voice was melodious but it also sounded empty, "So...you're an expert handler of the Rinnegan, Kabuto san."

Unnerved by the subtle change, Kabuto nodded. His eyes looked at the kunai in her hand. He recognized it. Uchiha ordered him to distill Itachi's rinnegan's power to rip off souls onto the weapon. He wondered why on earth Uchiha's commissioned weapon was in Uzumaki's Waker's Pearl's hands. Uchiha was still alive. Why would he give such weapon to his enermy?

"Kabuto san," her pale pink lips made a sad smile, "I'm...planning to capture an animal. A big animal."

He wondered. What kind of animal requires the use of the rinnegan? 'Unless...' he then wondered, 'is Hyuuga planning to turn her back against Kurama and Uzumaki?'

Her pale lavender tinted eyes looked at him innocently, "Can you change this kunai's power...into sealing? Can sealing be part of the Rinnegan's powers? I'm afraid I just don't know enough."

Kabuto, who thought that she was planning to change allegiances, nodded enthusiastically. Uchiha might finally win this grueling battle and the Akatsukis will finally assert their dominance once and for all.

Out of scientific curiosity, he asked, "So, what is this animal?"

For a moment, she paused. And then a slow smile spread on her lips. And that was all she wanted to say.

He snatched the kunai from her hands, unnerved by her odd behavior. "Give me half an hour. You'll be able to seal any summon with this."

She smiled, a heartbreaking smile, _Thank you..._

* * *

As Uzumaki skidded across the dark alley, he saw Uchiha approaching him with fire burning in his eyes, his kusanagi glowing darker than ever as flames of Amaterasu encircled the blade.

His blue eyes refused to cower at fear. Uchiha merely stared down at him impassively. Even now the First is brash and foolhardy in his idealism and valor.

When he was about to bring down his strike, that was when his beautiful undertaker appeared.

His heart stopped as she kneeled between him and Uzumaki, so breathtaking was her visage.

Her voice echoed in the alley with its arched ceilings, "My sovereign."

She looked up at him, her lipid lavender eyes full of sadness, "I just can't bear to see the death...of the love of my life."

Then from the sleeve, she pulled out the kunai that he gifted her.

A smile slowly spread across the Second Waker's face, like a candle lighting in the dark. She was finally going to give him respite. For the first time, he felt truly content. If Hyuuga kills him and becomes the Second Waker, then he can die happily. He might even meet Itachi and share with him what it felt like to choose the way he wanted to die. He didn't deserve such luck after all the crimes he committed.

Her voice was choked, "Please forgive my cowardice."

He drily laughed, but his sad, watering eyes were in sharp contrast with his smiling mouth that shone white teeth. In fact, it was he who was a coward. How like her, to attribute the blame of others to herself. He hoped that she would get over the habit soon enough. Living with the overconfident dobe should do just that.

She closed her long lashed eyelids and she seemed to be in meditation. He stood there, perfectly receptive as a prey.

Her closed eyes and tranquil expression calmed him, but suddenly he saw her kunai-clutched hand rise to her throat. She tilted the angle of the kunai so that the blade is right before her slender neck.

Then suddenly everything started happening too fast.

When he blinked his eyes open, all he saw was her falling on the tile. The kunai made a sharp clanging sound of metal as it rolled from her grasp.

"Hyuuga," his voice was a faint whisper at first. Then he bellowed from the deepest part of himself, "Hyuuga!"

He held her limp body in his arms and tilted her face towards him, "Open your eyes for a little bit." His shaky voice sounded off to him. Was his words a command or a plea? In hindsight, it was both.

He never knew that people who stab themselves can go off like a snuffed candle. Wasn't it natural to at least cough and struggle before relapsing into complete death? Why did she have to go so fast? What was hurrying her? He tapped on her left cheek and called her name, but there was no response-no vibration in the eyelid or warmth back to her face. Just a stream of blood that stemmed from her lips and dripped to her chin.

Then he realized. She turned the tables on him and made _him_ bear the brunt of the absence of her life, of her existence.

"Oh, Hyuuga," he gasped, and his eyes reverted back to the color, black. Once he realized this, he hugged her close to his chest and wept. _Wept._ "I was wrong. I was wrong." His words were an outright plea and demand for her forgiveness but she wasn't there to refuse or accept him. It took having her to taste the euphoria of her affections or the bitterness of heartbreak. This time, he was alone. "Oh...everything that I loved."


	23. Chapter 23

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Thank you so much for your kind and understanding words! I've just updated this chapter. Enjoy!

* * *

When he brought her body to Kabuto, he wasn't prepared to have his soul die once again. Holding her in his arms, he listened to the grey haired Akatsuki, but each word just stabbed his chest like the kunai she had embedded in herself.

The egotistical grey haired physician spoke as if he was reading off a list, "She is not technically dead for she has chosen to escape through the six paths of the sage."

He stared at him as he clutched her lifeless body close to his chest, "So that means...I can't revive her with my Rinnegan."

His dark eyes quivered slightly as he stared at Kabuto as if he was the one getting his soul extracted. The latter squirmed. There was something horrifying about seeing the stoic, icy ruler look as disheveled and torn apart.

Kabuto continued, hoping that hearing logic would do the Uchiha some good, "Right now what you see here...it isn't Hyuuga. It is a living, breathing doll. The real Hyuuga...her soul is somewhere sealed in the vortex created by the sage of six sages."

When Uchiha became still and silent, Kabuto felt a glimmer of hope that he was slowly recovering in his senses. There are so many women, multitudes of beauties who were more than happy to throw themselves at his feet. The only special thing about Hyuuga was her blood line limit, so he might as well get a more beautiful woman who possessed the byakugan. Uchiha might be harsh, but he was a reasonable man. Or so he thought.

The said man looked straight ahead, his eyes empty and voice expressing nothing but disbelief, "She ran away from me. She knew I was going to try to revive her with my rinnegan."

Then, he darkly snickered as he slouched over her body.

As he crouched over, he struggled to not be consumed by his realization of how awfully cruel Hyuuga can be. How she meticulously ensured that she was out of his reach. How calculative she was. At the back of his mind, he imagined her glancing at him coldly before fully turning away. His mind ached from the new layers of Hyuuga that he never suspected but was starting to see.

Seeing that side of her should stop him from loving her.

If he was willing to give himself to destroy his world, she wanted to save it and all the people who inhabit the vile place. It was a very disadvantageous twist of luck that Hyuuga used the fact that she was his first love to prevent his revenge. And not only did she prevent his revenge, his life-long goal, she refused to live under the shadow of their memories.

Then he lifted his face to above. His dark grey eyes looked empty and the dark shade underneath his eyes showed his exhaustion.

When he straightened his posture again and looked back at Kabuto, his dark eyes were glazed and wild.

His voice was low and raspy, showing no hint of grief, just amusement. But years of living with the Uchihas taught Kabuto that his was a kind of amusement that can easily turn into psychotic bouts of a killing spree. His low voice hummed with such gnarly amusement, "So she did everything in her power to ensure that I can't bring her back."

He didn't seem to be speaking to anyone in particular, so Kabuto wisely kept his mouth shut. He read somewhere that if one suffers from too much grief, shock numbs the feeling of sadness itself. To witness Uchiha's mind succumbing to the effect of post traumatic shock syndrom was horrifying.

He erupted into another low, guttural laughter, but he abruptly ceased. He was a point where he couldn't distinguish his anguish at the loss of Hyuuga with his rapture of how well she did the job. As his entire body vibrated, he slouched over Hyuuga's body that lied in his arms as passive as a doll.

His eyes drifted down to the sleeping maiden who he gathered up closer in his arms. Her shoulder was pressed flush to his chest, and her face was at peace, heedless of the tempest raging next to her. His voice shook as he spoke to her, "No, Hyuuga. You might think that you've won, but this isn't over."

Then his dark eyes suddenly pinned Kabuto to the spot. He murmured in a low voice, "You..."

Before he can even dodge, he was struck to the wall and he felt his glasses break by the shock. A strong hand strangled his throat as it suspended him above the air, and he saw dark eyes glaring at him like a hawk.

Uchiha's low, raspy voice sent chills down his spine and his feet dangled desperately in the air, "You did such a good job, didn't you?" He purred as he eyed the man who clawed at his hands over his throat desperately, foaming in his mouth.

Because he was mesmerized by a second by such heartless man's grief, he had forgotten. This was Uchiha. And he was a psychotic mad man.

Uchiha's dark eyes looked up to him beneath long, thick lashes. His eyes narrowed and his lips curved into a cold, cruel twist, "Sad that you did such a good job. Hyuuga would've lived."

As Kabuto struggled vainly to loosen the grip on his throat, he screamed in his mind, 'That Hyuuga bitch...She fucked me up as she left!' He underestimated her. He thought that the mousey dark haired girl was too dumb, too stupid, too delicate to act on or harbor hate towards him. He secretly laughed at her and her naivete. But how wrong he was and how far from innocent she was. She achieved her revenge on the grey haired scientist in the most flawless, fucked up way possible, and she didn't even need to lift her little goddamn finger.

Uchiha looked down at his slowly tapping foot as he crunched Kabuto's neck in his grasp, "How are you going to make up for it, Kabuto?"

"Ka..ahh...ak! Le-let me...I-I will-"

The grey haired victim slumped to the floor and choked as soon as his lord released his grip. He wiped his hands together and spoke in a deceptively soothing manner, "You said that she is like a living doll. Keep her alive as a living doll. Don't hold back on any resources."

When Kabuto looked up, he saw his eyes glow red at a slow, terrifying pace, "You shall bear the burden of Hyuuga's crimes till I let you die."

* * *

When he was planning to execute his plan, of course, Uzuamki had to stand in his way.

Uzumaki gritted his teeth as Uchiha casually blocked his way to Kabuto's accursed laboratory, "You can't force her to come back to life. Whatever experiment you're doing to Hyuuga, I'm bring an end to it."

Uchiha stared back at him with dark, empty eyes that showed clear killing intent, "Step back, Naruto. I have no time for your pleasantries."

The blond Waker clenched his fists and bellowed at him, "Why can't you set her free? Even if she dies, you should leave it to time for her to reincarnate! You should respect her wishes!"

Never taking his eyes away from Uzumaki, the Second Waker spoke slowly and menacingly, "She isn't dead. Nor is she alive. Her soul vanished to the six paths. She can't die and reincarnate like mortals."

At his words, Uzumaki's eyes widened and soon his face manifested an after-shock tremor that showed how he understood what that meant. He gritted his teeth and bowed his head, "It's still...not right to force her to come back if she doesn't want it."

Uchiha's words stunned Uzumaki. "I will bring back her soul from the vortex. No matter how long it takes."

Then he roared, "I'm not letting you turn her into some kind of Kabuto's doll!"

A taunting smirk graced Uchiha's face, "Shame that you hold such negative opinion." He raised his left hand and shrugged, "If you weren't so adverse to it, I would've let you see her. She is beautiful, inside the pearl Kabuto created to help her breathe in her sleep. She is really a Waker's Pearl."

At his words, Uzumaki's eyes widened like a wild animal's and he proceeded to lunge at him, "On my dead body!"

When he saw Uzumaki attack him in passion, his eyes shifted to the color 'red' and brightened as he took the opportunity to quickly unsheathe kusanagi and hit his opponent.

The sounds of metal clashing against each other went on, as the two attacked each other with all the venom they accumulated against each other for ages.

"After all she did for you, you don't even let her do the one thing she wants!"

Then came the nose-breaking punch to Uzumaki's face, and after he staggered as he clutched his face and stepped back, he threw his kunai away in anger and let the golden light of the sage mode envelop him.

"You selfish bastard!"

If it wasn't for the protective barrier of Susanoo, Uchiha's body would have fragmented into pieces as his ex best friend sent him to the air outside of the palace walls.

The purple light that surrounded the ghostly rib cage where Uchiha protected himself kept him unscathed, but it was undoubtedly a close call.

'I have to get Uzumaki out of there,' when he found himself outside the palace walls, he feared that Uzumaki would charge into Kabuto's laboratory and disrupt the work.

"The one thing I can't let him do," then he conjured the apparition of Sasuanoo who towered over Kabuto's laboratory and barricaded any intruder from entering.

Soon enough, Uzumaki appeared before him and flung punches at Uchiha, "You get that skull away and let go of Hyuuga!"

Quickly throwing kusanagi back into his sheath, he elbow crossed his way out of Uzumaki's punches and attacked him with aggression and efficiency. The sounds of dodged punches and misdirected attacks filled the air like magnified sounds of thudding and blades slicing air.

Unconscious of their surroundings except for each other, they found themselves in a large plain where they kept pushing against each other and throw round sided kicks or aims at various parts that can instantly end their game.

Uchiha took a deep gulp of breath, did some hand signals, and emitted a torrent of fire that ran straight into Uzumaki, except that the blond jinchuriki instantly dodged the attack and surrounded him with five of his sage mode clones.

One by one, each shadow clone attacked Uchiha from various angles, and he kicked, flung one over his shoulder, sliced another with a sword, and took them on as they came. Temporarily blinded by the puffs of smoke the clones left, Uchiha looked around but he heard the sound of wind cycling and he tried to dodge, but he missed it by a second.

The impact of the rasengan thrown against the earth was like a meteor that left a monumental crater on the earth and blasted earthy matters like stone, trees, and species out of the range by at least several miles.

When he managed to snap back, Uchiha saw that they were transported to the high cliffs that overlooked a stream, with a staggering depth of nine thousand feet.

Then he saw Uzumaki above him and about to land his foot right into his gut.

A hard smack against Uzumaki's jaw sent him off balance and Uchiha's kick to the side of his rib and left thigh sent him down the deep ravines.

Then their battle zone changed to the waters. Uchiha attached himself to a flat down-sloping plane of the cliff like a spider and watched his friend disappear into the ravine with anticipation. A tower of water rose from the impact of the fall and then fell back, causing waves to undulate across the surface.

Then a wide gold ring appeared on the water, and Uzumaki soared back into the surface and flew right back at Uchiha while juggling three sharingans.

A particularly heavy attack on both sides threw both out of the perimeter of their fight and they landed on the waters, skidded across the lake, leaving trough marks on the surface.

Suddenly, underneath his feet, Uchiha can feel heat rising and he quickly evaded, but half of his clothes and skin were burnt by the sage Uzumaki's monumental, elongated arms of fire that attacked him from underneath the water.

When a blast of blue florescent light charged around his hand, the chirping cries and soaring shrieks of a thousand birds filled the air.

Uchiha remembered when he first showed her chidori, _To be honest, Waker sama...I didn't like its name. A thousand birds' cry. It...felt like too much. But now that I see it...their cries sear through my_ chest. She brought her hand to her chest to bring down the tempo of her beating heart, _I want to hear it again and again. I wonder why the birds cry._ Then she looked at him with those eyes that unsettled him with their warmth and then his blazing chidori with a faraway gaze.

She had the most passionate and foolish heart he had ever seen in any fighter. To have seen beauty in what was simply his technique to terrorize and kill his enemies. But he crushed her heart and killed her in his suffocating grasp that refused to let anything go.

A huge collision between his chidori and Uzumaki's sharingan created a deafening blast that sent ripples across the air and water around them.

Then they emitted their battle cry and ran back into each other and continued landing heavily packed punches and kicks as they rotate and lunge back.

It was strange how the matter of winning and losing can happen in the most seemingly trivial split moment.

After activating his rinnegan, he felt his past friends's heart beating in his grasp as he lodged his hand inside the chest.

And he heard the roar of the kyuubi that shook the earth by its roots.

'Kill the kyuubi,' he told himself, 'Kill it now.'

He would have, if it wasn't for one thing. Kyuubi also still existed in Hyuuga.

He coiled his fingers around the beating heart that slowed its beating rhythm, and Uchiha looked at Uzumaki's eyes that lost their light and will of fire.

He had a chance to crush the heart, but he didn't. Instead he sealed the monster himself.

As Uzumaki sunk to his watery grave, Uchiha looked down at the blood on his hands. He was undergoing a risk.

If any of the jinchurriki, Hyuuga or Uzumaki, tries to awake kyuubi, the monster will be brought back to life.

But he tightened his fist. Seaing the kyuubi away might be dangerous in the long- run, but his priority was Hyuuga's survival and he couldn't subject her to any other possible damage. This was his last chance.

When he was about to turn back and go, Uchiha heard the ripple of the water and he immediately turned and lashed out another attack.

Uzumaki was growling under his breath as he rebounded back from what was supposed to be his aquatic coffin, and with much effort, he broke the seal over Kurama.

And another battle cry erupted through the air.

* * *

Days, weeks, and now already half an year passed since he had fought his friend off from barging into Kabuto's lab.

He has been dedicated in channeling his own chakra as Kabuto asked for, into saving Hyuuga. Now she was in a light purple glass orb that was filled with chakra that was made into essential fluids that let her breathe and sleep.

It was close to dark in Kabuto's lab, only partially lit by the green light emanating from tubes that were attached to the pearl.

A heavy foot step rung in the laboratory and a drop of blood fell on the floor. _Dook-_

In a slouching gait, Uchiha slowly went up the stairs, his tired gaze directed to nothing in particular. His drooping shoulders made it seem as if his burdens and inner demons materialized in thin air and decided to weigh on his shoulders. His dark cape was dirty, and there were cuts, bruises, and blood all over his suit and face. His dark eyes that used to flash with silent vigor were tired and soulless, if the shades underneath the rim of his downcast eyes were anything to go by.

He stumbled over one of the steps, but he pushed through the rail stairs and finally he was where he wanted to be. In front of Hyuuga. In front of the Waker's Pearl.

His calloused hand rested on the glassy surface of the orb, and he looked at her face, her closed eyelids fringed with long lashes, dark hair that looked a different color under the green light, and the way her bottom lip slightly sucked in during her slumber.

He started to strike a conversation with her, "Hyuuga, now that you're gone...I'm starting to understand Itachi. And how he must have felt when he died in my hands. He wanted me to have peace in mind. I wanted you to wallow in pain. I was selfish. And you taught me how I was."

He pressed his forehead to the warm glass. The barrier imposed by her glassy shell made his chest prick in realization that he can never feel the softness of her skin or her fluttery pulse, "I tried to give you the pain I'm feeling right now. And you gave me the taste of my own medicine. It serves me right to have lost you." He made a small sad smile as if he made a joke that only he can understand.

The pads of his fingers pressed onto the surface as he imagined how it would be like to press his forehead to hers, "Itachi struggled till his death to keep me ignorant of his love for me. He probably didn't hope that I would turn out to be so broken. I almost turned you into a second version of myself. And for that, I don't deserve your forgiveness."

After he heaved in a little breath, he threw his face onto the glass and lightly butted his forehead, "I needed to go through the same thing twice...lose my loved ones for the second time, to finally understand." He slowly, gently banged on the glass with his forehead, again and again. A tear formed beneath his eyelids that he squeezed shut and his shoulder rose and fell as he urgently breathed in. The familiar pain of loss felt constricting in his chest, but his single tear and sounds of breathing were too quiet to be noticeable to anyone, except him.

He cleared up his throat, "Hyuuga, I don't deserve to be standing in front of you, now, but...soon, I have to go. Your master is a stubborn one. You know that right, Hyuuga?" But Hyuuga didn't say anything. His teeth baring smile was answered with nothing, but her silence.

He continued to speak, as if she was telling , urging him to go and take his reluctant steps, "I'll...go soon, Hyuuga, but...for now..."

He raspily whispered to her beyond the glass as if they were his final words, "We're together."

* * *

She was sitting in the pitch black dark, but there was a serene calm in her face. She even managed to make a smile when someone in the dark asked her a question. Was it her conscience? Or was it the sage of six paths? It was not Kurama. She didn't know, but it didn't matter. Both of the men she loved in her short life-the man who taught her the foolishness of a first infatuation, and the first and last man to have ever taught her the meaning of a broken heart-they're both alive. That was the only thing that mattered to her, and she was happy.

A deep, low, and masculine voice boomed in the hollow space, "You're in the threshold between the paths of life and death, created by the sage of six paths."

"Yes," was her answer and she smiled at the man who was shrouded in the darkness.

The man asked her with a hint of curiosity, "Do you regret your decision?"

"No, I don't. The person I care for the most is alive. And the people I protected are safe."

She paused. The man didn't seem to buy it. She sighed and relented, "Just...one thing."

Bowing her head, she clutched her hand close to her chest, "That I...have to lie about my heart to him till the very end...that alone pains me."

Then suddenly the darkness sucked into a hole, and she was in a meadow of flowers.

Before her was a tall handsome man with dark hair that was tied into a smooth pony tail. He wore dark clothes that made him seem out of place in this place of spring. There were deep lines underneath his eyes, and he looked remarkably like the Second Waker, except for his tanner skin and more prominent eyelashes.

Even if he didn't tell her, she had a hunch about who he was. "You...must be Itachi," she said.

He looked down at her with the familiar passive and stoic expression. "My foolish younger brother caused you quite some pain."

She blinked. There was silence. Then she understood that it was the past Second Waker's way of apologizing for his younger brother's actions that had hurt her.

Not knowing what to say, she turned her attention to the flowers around her, "This is...beautiful for a vortex where I'm supposed to be lost and suffering for eternity."

But God knows how much she wants to see her Waker and how he was doing. The man who woke her up to her potential. Her teacher and friend. And the person she loved and lost.

As if he understood what she was thinking, Itachi spoke, "Your two masters were in war against each other."

Her pearlescent eyes snapped back to him, "How can it be?" Her voice trembled, "Didn't...Uchiha sama lose his will to have revenge against Konohakagure?"

"He did," Itachi looked down at her with impassioned, ruby eyes, "but in the place of revenge, he sought to bring you back from the vortex. That's where Uzumaki got involved and they fought for a long time."

She stared at him in shock and rose to her full height. She trembled, "But I...I made sure to use your rinnegan to never go back. He can't revive me with his rinnegan. There's no way he could bring me back."

"Because it was my rinnegan," Itachi crossed his muscular arms, "that is why we're having this conversation. My brother decided to use Kabuto's technical sophistication to preserve your sleeping body in a pearl."

Her heart beat erratically. She asked with a tremor in her voice, "Itachi sama, how long has it been since I used your rinnegan to disappear?"

"Five thousand years," he answered in a matter-of-fact tone. "It's been a while since my brother died. And your master died. Time flows differently here in the vortex."

"Oh..." She couldn't help but feel the tears in her eyes and she quickly bowed her head to conceal them.

"Please tell me...they were happy," she begged.

"They weren't," he said coldly, "My brother died, sealing Uzumaki's kyuubi and his memories as a First Waker. In return for bringing you back to your body, he made a bargain with Kabuto. He will also lose his memory as a Second Waker and be reincarnated as a mortal, just like your master."

He continued to calmly deliver more harrowing news to Hyuuga, "Haruno, was it? My brother's Waker's Pearl. She made her wish that she can be reincarnated at the same time and place as my brother."

Tears drenched her eyelashes as she closed her eyes shut, "Why...why...did Waker sama make such bargain? It's obvious that...that..."

Itachi vocalized her conjecture, "The reason Kabuto wanted him reincarnated as a mortal...He probably wanted the power of his sharingan, which is not the power of the Wakers. But Kabuto also wanted the thrill of the chase as well. He has much grudge against my brother, and I can't blame him after how much he tortured him to revive you."

When Hyuuga raised her head and tried to ask him, "How did you know all of this?" he gave her a look that made her feel offended for some reason. To his genius, the cryptic and nefarious Akatsuki's thoughts were clear as daylight.

She lifted her eyes to him and asked, "Can you help him?"

His elegant brows knitted in mild irritation, "I refuse. I am not interested in coddling my brother into weakness. He should bear the brunt of his own decisions, even if he doesn't remember them."

Her mouth opened in shock and then shut again. To see him was like seeing her worst impression of Waker sama embodied in another person.

But her eyes widened at his next words, "But you can."

Then he pointed his finger at somewhere. When her eyes followed what he was pointing at, she saw a big ginko tree full with lush, yellow fan shaped leaves.

"That is the threshold between the vortex and the world where he wants you to be," he brought down his hand and tucked it in his trouser pocket, "My selfish brother ensured that you would wake up at the exact time he was reincarnated. It seems he can't just learn the virtue of 'letting go.'"

"He isn't selfish." Her words surprised him, evident in his widened eyes. "He..." her voice trembled and she brought her hands to her mouth, "He...knew how lonely I would be so he..." she covered her face in her hands, "so that I won't be alone when I wake up."

Her words were in jumbles, but Itachi understood what she meant. His brother knew how lonely the petite girl would be if she wakes up where nobody knows her. His brother was madly in love with the little Hyuuga.

His tone was softer, "It's up to you whether you want to go back to my brother's world. Nobody can force you."

"If you don't want to go," he shrugged and tilted his face sideways as he rubbed the back of his neck. Then he looked back at where she was standing and his eyes widened. Then he smiled.

She was already running toward the ginko tree.

* * *

When she grasped on the rough bark of the ginko tree, she looked over the horizon and suddenly she was in the twilight zone. When she looked up, she saw the young Hyuuga and second Waker walking in the dark, beautiful forest where they first met.

She saw her frightened, ten year old self chasing after the Second Waker in the dark, moonlit forest where fireflies wove a pattern on the silky blueness.

"...Father?" He looked at the little girl with an incredulous look on his face.

When she extended her hand to the pair, suddenly their silhouette bursted into a swarm of fireflies that dispersed into the sky and she was alone in the middle of the forest where the sound of creaking insects were heard beneath the lush green foliage of the woods.

She turned around and she saw the part of the Palace, the section of the labyrinthine alley where she followed the Second Waker to the infirmary the night she was chased from her own dormitory.

"Where are your shoes?" he asked, calmly eyeing the little girl's barefoot.

"Wait!" Hyuuga cried out to the two, but they disappeared as if they were simply mirages sculpted by the moonlight and night breeze.

She felt the soft breeze that carried white buds of willow trees that played with the back of her neck, and when she looked back, she saw the Second Waker standing by the grove of willow trees. He was shrouded by the swaying branches of the willow tree, the leaves looking like tiny pendants. His dark eyes were scanning over the pond and not her.

When she weaved through the swaying branches of the willow trees, she was getting closer to him. She can even see his shut lips, his dark clothes that went up to the bottom of his chin, and she was sure she finally got him this time. But when she finally pushed through the willows, all she saw was his dark cape on the ground.

She fell to her knees and brought the cape to her chest and buried her face into the dark, heavy material.

Then a pair of strong arms enveloped her from behind and she froze. A gentle, raspy voice told her, "My name is Sasuke." She quickly swayed, but suddenly now she was thrown into deep water, gurgling as she fell into the turquoise depths.

When she opened her eyes, she saw the surface of the water above her, full of its patterns made by the play between sunlight and sea foam.

Suddenly the surface broke and she saw an older version of herself learning how to throw kunais from the Second Waker.

He was adjusting the way she held her kunai. And he surreptitiously watched the look of concentration of her face and nodded in approval. The girl's white eyes flashed in excitement. He looked down at her with an unreadable expression.

As she drowned deeper and deeper, she called out but there was no sound-just bubbles.

Then a streak of blue lightning with the sound that was music and poetry to her ears-the thousand birds' cry-slashed through the surface and raced towards her.

Hyuuga closed her eyes. Not in fear, but in acceptance.

And when her eyes were opened, she was on a soft, dry ground. Her hand patted the soil where she was lying on, and her hair was strewn across her face.

She raised her upper body up. The breeze was warm enough for her to not feel chilly greeted her. Around her were pieces that shone like jewels under the orange sunlight setting in the dusk.

There in the middle of the sunflower field, she saw him. Shorter than her by a head, wearing a blue T shirt and beige cargo pants, he had so much in his young expression that he didn't get to convey to her in years. But she knew.

Out of her own control, she whispered the name she heard somewhere but can't quite remember, "Sasuke..."

The dark haired boy with eyes she can never forget stared back at her, his shoulders rigid and posture defensive. But she just wanted to cry in joy.

"Sasuke," her stupid voice was choking again. God, when can she just stop choking? He brought her back. And he had her where he wanted. But for some reason, she just wanted to cry, her heart was too full. She felt dizzy.

A far younger voice than what she remembered replied back in caution, "...How do you know my name?"

There she almost wept in happiness.

* * *

Some men tried to take him away as soon as he came back to her. She didn't realize that she had kusanagi next to her, until the fear of losing him and anger at the low-lives caused her to act out of reflex-cutting through their bodies as she swirled with exactitude and grace.

When she was done, she looked back at him and he froze up as soon as he saw her white eyes turning back to its normal clarity after recovering from the heat of battle. He glared at her with an impressive gaze that nobody would take as a thirteen year old's.

'To think that he was once the most powerful entity in the world' her eyes saddened to see the fear evident in his clenched his jaw, 'but now he's just a boy. But still with so many enemies.'

That was when she decided that she has to train him so nobody ill intentioned could lay a finger on him.

She slowly opened her lips, "You..."

He started, and she continued, "You woke me up."

Slowly and deliberately, she walked towards him. The translucent, pale gown clung to her shapely thighs as she slowly approached him. Then she looked at him with calm pearl white eyes that looked strangely sad, "So please give me a name."

* * *

She asked the young boy with her master's dark eyes to give her a name. When he gave her a look that bordered between incredulity and disgust, she cringed but at the same time almost laughed. She never knew that a boy who pretends to be as hard as stone can be at the same time so readable and prone to surprise. He was definitely what she imagined Uchiha sama would be like if he was younger and less tortured.

He quickly turned around to hide his flustered blush and strutted forward down the mountain hill full of short sunflowers.

She lifted her long flowing sleeves to her lips and muffled a smile. She found his way of avoiding awkward situations adorable and age appropriate.

Time has passed and the sun has rapidly set and the sky was soon dark.

He was quiet for so long that she wondered if he has forgotten that he should give her a name.

When she was about to give up and decide to just make up her own name, she heard a low, raspy voice.

"...It's dark." He commented. She looked up at the sky. Indeed, the sky was dark and stars were beginning to show up. Even the gentle breeze that caressed with her blue hair carried the chill of night.

As if he was simply talking to himself, his tone was pensive and full of gentle cadence, "Just a while ago, there was sun."

Even if he was a young reincarnation, there was still an elusive trait of melancholy in his voice that she recognized.

The sense of familiarity tugged on her heart.

Then suddenly, he spoke with added gruffness, "I saw you right when the sun was setting."

He turned slightly and glanced at her, the moonlight on his sharp nose and cheekbones, "So I'll call you 'Hinata,' for 'place of sun."

* * *

When Sasuke allowed her inside his home, Hinata looked around the run-down shack in apprehension and wonder.

The boy sheepishly showed her his living space-a small composite of a kitchen that had a mattress lying on the corner.

She couldn't tell if the kitchen was just being under utilized or barely functional. It was probably both.

Even though he was young, he quickly detected her shock at his state of living, mistook it as disappointment at his poverty, and started to show signs of sulking. But he didn't demand her to leave the premises as he normally would.

She barely managed to swallow the lump in her throat and ask, "For...how long have you lived here?"

He begrudgingly answered as he kicked on an emptied can of tuna that was lying around for days, "Since I moved out, a year ago."

She cautiously asked, "Did your parents..."

Sasuke's brows snapped together in irritation and hostility, "I don't have any parents. I was taken in, but I decided to leave and live on my own."

She wasn't able to withhold her gasp when she saw a tiny mouse skirting through the corner. Then she quickly placed her brown bag of market supplies on the counter and wiped a tear that trickled from her left eye. _You shouldn't be living like this._ She barely swallowed in her desire to cry as she picked apart what she bought.

When she opened the drawer, there were no more fish cans or canned beans-his staple meal. But she quickly let a small sigh of relief as she washed a tomato under the cool water. At least, the water was running. So he did pay his water bill. Now she could cook.

When she gently placed a bowl of steaming rice topped with scrambled eggs and fried tomato and a little cilantro garnish, he slightly flinched and glared at her before his dark eyes suspiciously darted to the meal.

Seeing his hesitation, she spoke up, "You saw how I bought the ingredients and cooked the food. There's no way I can poison you."

His pale face colored a bright pink as if she just had read his mind. Then he nervously reached his hand and clutched the bowl. There was only one bowl in the entire kitchen. She was just glad that it was washed clean so she doesn't have to throw it away like some hand-me-down plastic utensils she saw lying around.

When she told him that he will start his training under her, he balked at first but eventually relented. She had wagered a bargain that if he managed to hit her once, she will grant any wish that he has.

And she would say that she managed to beat him enough for him to quickly learn that it was not going to be so easy.

When they went back to his home, it was an understatement to say that she was surprised when he offered her the mattress. She honestly thought he would've hated her now if he hadn't yet then.

When she asked him where he will sleep, he pulled out a sleeping bag from what looked like his mission back pack and curled up in the corner. He looked like a blue caterpillar with a tuft of black hair.

* * *

The raven haired boy shot her a bored, arrogant look, "Kidnapper."

As he crouched over in the main courtyard, studying a burnt hole he made during his fire jutsu practice, he looked up at her and glared,

"Kidnapper."

When they happened to pass by in the main deck that was shaded by tiled roof overhangs and she was carrying folded laundry,

"Get out of my way, Kidnapper."

 _Tuk-_

The day he flung a punch right on her back was before she was abducted by the Hyuugas. His punch was more like a light tap that created a soft sound 'thud' as he was exhausted beyond belief and he only managed to get that far by hiding his chakra and sound of movements. As soon as his knuckles made contact with Hinata, he fell backwards and landed on the grassy plains. Hinata blamed herself for not paying attention, thinking that he would sprawl on the ground, panting and dying from his training as usual.

"So you managed to hit me." She softly grinned as she looked down at the red faced, panting boy who lied flat on the back on the grass. She stretched out her hand and asked with a playful twinkle in her light lavender eyes, "What would you like, Sasuke?"

He looked up at her, sweat dripping down his strong jaw, panting mouth slightly opened. "Later," he said before passing out in exhaustion.

She smiled and tucked his unruly dark bangs from his dirty pale forehead. When she took a look at his face, long lashes and more angular features, and how much he has grown, her heart started to ache. The boy she first met was still heart throbbingly handsome in his slightly oversized navy t shirt, with fierce dark eyes set underneath sharp eyebrows. But now he has grown a head taller, his limbs longer and leaner, and there was a sense of smug confidence lingering in the snap of his eyebrows and upturned end of his lips. She both loved and hated how he was resembling his adult form. A tight knot formed in her stomach. A little while later, she ignored the slightly stung and accusatory expression he showed for leaving him in the middle of the plain with just a barrier seal. She had never done that before. Her barrier seals were powerful but still her cold gesture was surprising.

Her response was unlike the warm Hinata she was; after seeing that he came back home, she went upstairs to sleep without a word. That was when she started to be cold to him. She felt that if she didn't set boundaries, she will end up loving him—she, loving a boy who she adopted as her brother and served in the past as a man. It was a disgrace.

One evening, he stood by the corner of the kitchen and asked,

"Why do you always wear that necklace?"

Her hands that were washing some produce in the sink stilled. Her opaque white eyes widened a bit and then she stilled in a calm expression. Her dark hair fell by her face like silky branches of a black willow tree.

It was a rare moment he initiated a conversation. For the first time, she was acting distant. She was quiet for a moment, letting the cool water down the faucet. Then she fingered the tiny blue tassel shaped beads with her wet, cold fingers. She finally said,

"It's by...someone I deeply care about."

'There,' satisfied with her answer, she resumed her activity, 'not a lie but too vague and obvious to mean anything.'

He shuffled his feet on the floor and asked with averted eyes, "What is his name?"

Hinata frowned. She wondered where he got the idea that it was a 'guy' who gave her the jewelry. She smiled and shook her head, 'kids grow up so fast.'

"Hmm," after being in deep thought, she looked at him and her soft moonlike eyes narrowed sweetly, "I will call him...'bishounen sama.'"

Sasuke locked eyes with her and deadpanned, "That sounds gay."

"Don't say that..." she narrowed her eyes at him in disapproval "it's..."

Then her words jabbed at his side,

"Ironic when you say that, Sasuke. Apparently, you were ranked the most attractive boy in the village."

He balked, losing his cool, "Who told you that?!" He suddenly lifted himself from his casual pose leaning on the door frame.

She turned her attention back to washing fruit, "I have my means." A certain _silver-haired_ means.

He glowered at her, "You're the worst."

He saw her shoulders lift up in a shrug as she worked her way in the sink, which in turn infuriated him, and he felt she can't leave early enough.

When she went to her bedroom, she turned on her desk lamp and opened her lavender colored diary. At first, all she could do was press a dot on the light purple line. Ink started bleeding through the page.

Several tear drops fell on the page. She started to write as in a frenzy,


	24. Chapter 24

Disclaimer: Masashi Kishimoto owns Naruto, not me.

Author's notes: OMG, I am so ready for lighthearted, silly fluff now I can't even. Thank you so much. Much love by neverkarma. I updated ch.23 so do go back and read it again.

 **M-Rated,** Limes. non-consensual/ dubious-consensual moments.

 **OOC and UNBETA**

* * *

Number one step to 'How I asked your mother to the cherry blossom festival.' (que Sasuke holding a red rose with an ever present scowl on his face)

When he went up to her bedroom door, he didn't know what was the best way to take her down to the dining table.

He was just not accustomed to doing such things. Last time he did it was when he was fourteen and she was sick. Then he didn't know how to come up with a great excuse to keep her at bed, so she caught him in the act of fixing her a breakfast meal. He had still called her "Kidnapper" then and slighted her ever so often. He was mortified beyond belief when he realized he, the one and only Sasuke was being the epitome of "stockholm syndrome," being chummy and making his sick kidnapper breakfast. He never ventured it since. He frankly couldn't blame himself. That was when he was denying his feelings _hard_ and was really confused.

But now the situation has changed drastically and he was trying to reverse tactics on Kidnapper. Teasing her over her lost status and asserting his dominance was a source of sadistic pleasure to him.

She finally overslept after several days of exhaustive training with him, and he took the opportunity.

He had set up the table and everything, but he was in a massive stunt when faced with her bedroom door. He would do anything to make sure he doesn't blow up his cover this time. He can't relive that embarrassment.

He knocked on the door.

A monotonous order with no ounce of sweetness,"Get up."

When there was no answer, he gritted out between his teeth, feeling heat built up in his face in embarrassment, "I'm hungry."

Then the door swung open and he saw a tear-eyed Hinata shooting an angry, reproachful glare at him. She yelled, "I-I'm no-not someone who cooks for you, Sasuke!" and stormed out of her room. She brushed pass him in a huff, leaving him still as a stone statue. It looked like somebody wasn't having a good morning. He noticed right away that he really shouldn't have coaxed her out of her room in that way, but it was too late.

But then she froze in her steps as she saw the dining table, and she continued to pour profuse apologies to him, "I-I don't know what came over me, I'm sorry. I think I just got too tired and I thought you wanted me to-"

He looked at her blankly with no emotions. He wasn't surprised. That was exactly his point when he sparred with her every night. His answer was simple, "Let's eat."

Sasuke couldn't keep his voice from sounding disgruntled as he looked at his Waker's Pearl trying to eat the breakfast he made for her, "You don't like it." There was a hint of resignation in his face.

Again, those huge pale eyes stared at him like a surprised rabbit's as she held a delicate hand over her lips. A speck of cottage cheese was dangling on the right side of her chin. She looked like she was fighting with her salad.

Then she went on a rambling spree of how she loves the breakfast, "It's re-really good, Sasuke. I wasn't as good as you when I made my first breakfast." She cooed to him, but he merely looked down at his plate in silence. Sweating, she demonstrated the worst stuttering she had in a while, "I-I-I especially l-love the fried chicken nuggets! You should tell me how you-"

He finally withdrew the stare and started going over his salad with his fork, "They were frozen." Then he lifted his dark eyes that reflected a subtle sheen, "I cooked the broccolis though."

"Ah..." She cringed a bit at how inconsiderate she might have sounded and continued to nibble on her chicken nugget. The steamed broccolis were overcooked, becoming soft and soggy, but she said over and over how she enjoyed it. Despite knowing that she was just trying to be polite and kind, he felt his face lightening up at her words.

When the awkward meal was done, Hinata reached out her hand tothe plates but Sasuke interceded and took her plates.

She trailed after him, "I-I will do it!" but he rigidly stared straight ahead as he walked away to the kitchen in long strides. He looked a little uncomfortable as she followed after him with a slightly hopping gait to be faster for her short height, "I-I can do it!" He wondered, 'Was she always this short and...' He blushed and ignored her insistent attempts to do the dishes.

'Well, that went terrific,' he thought as he rinsed and organized the dish ware. Hinata was at the main porch, peeling garlic.

That was as far as his creativity in the domain of romance will go, so he decided to go outside to get some inspiration.

It slightly awed him how people can put full fledged effort into preparing for a holiday. All he could see were jewelry merchants stacking up on the hairpins that shinobis can give to the kunoichis or civilians of their affections. Some elongated hair pins were encrusted with artificial jewels and some were painted with vibrant primary colors to attract attention. The materials were mostly jade, white or light green, and some were orange red. Or wood, ebony black to varying shades of chestnut brown. One of the hair pin merchants showed cases of hair pins decorated with painted fish scales that looked surprisingly flattering with ladies wearing kimonos. In Sasuke's eyes, they just looked like fancily made chopsticks that were missing its' pair. But since it was regarded a huge rudeness and impropriety for the male shinobi to confess his love without such hair pin, he needed to get one sooner or later. Money was not the issue for him, but rather it was his lack of aesthetic appreciation for these pins that blindsighted him to what would make Hinata happy.

Feeling dizzy by the wide variety of hair pins, he turned his attention to other shopkeepers and merchant booths.

Apparently, the girls were not playing the role of passive recipients. They seemed eager to find the perfect kimono that would flatter their beauty. A good number of them were giggling and crowding around various kimono shops where spring colors were all the hype. Men were also dressed up in traditional costumes for the cherry blossom festival, but usually they weren't shopping for the most colorful or fashionable outfit this early. He remembered how he should get one for himself.

He wondered, 'Does Hinata have one?' Surprisingly, he has never seen Hinata in a kimono. He had seen Sakura or even other girls like Temari or Ino in kimonos, during parties or other holiday festivals like the New Moon or New Years or in under-cover missions. But never Hinata. He knew that she often goes to the kimono shops with Hanabi, the dual clan head of the Hyuugas, but he never actually saw her in one. She owns nothing traditional except for a white yukata she got from a used clothes shop. He imagined that she would look good, but that was only a vague conclusion.

In fact, 'good' is a gross understatement. She would look like something that came out of a painting. There was nothing barring his way to getting her a kimono, except his unexpected bashfulness to shop for a woman's clothes. But he couldn't ask any of his female friends like Sakura in fear that they might get the wrong idea.

And there he stood glowering in front of a kimono shop, and his dark aura was driving business away for the poor owner.

His thoughts were abruptly interrupted by a low, muffled voice, "Oh Sasuke, fancy seeing you here!"

His closed eyes looked impassive and calm but Kakashi was pleased to hear a sound of a thin slab of glass cracking from his face.

"Do stop ogling the mannequins in kimonos. It's rather unsightly," the grey haired nin said as he casually flipped over the pages of the latest Itcha Itcha.

He wanted more than anything to yell at his face, 'Have some shame!' Instead he gritted out, "What do you want?"

"Oh nothing, just going around this way because I saw a black cat cross the street."

Mumbling "whatever," Sasuke turned his attention back to the kimono shop.

"You know, Sasuke," lifting his single eye from the pages, Kakashi spoke discreetly, "the ability to draw someone reluctant to show up is also part of being a ninja." A glint went across his dark eye that looked into Sasuke.

Sasuke scowled even harder and took a step back. He knew that ninjas should be able to ensnare their prey. It was common knowledge. But he had a lingering sense that Kakashi was referring to something else than the basic tenet of being a successful ninja.

'No, I'm not letting him rile me up,' he told himself as he resolutely turned his back on Kakashi and started to walk away.

But right when he was walking away, he heard Kakashi speak to himself in a low, suggestive way, "She would be lovely in a kimono." When he fiercely snapped his eyes on Kakashi, the nin just coyly covered his mouth with his hand, "fufufu."

Kakashi glanced at him with mirth in his eye, "I would love to show her my big...fat..."

Sasuke sauntered up to the nin, rage evident in his eyes that slowly turned red, "Finish that word and I'll-"

Then suddenly Kakashi pulled out something from his anbu vest pocket and smiled brightly like sunshine, "Tadaa!"

Dumbfounded, he stared down at what Kakashi was holding in his hand.

Sasuke slowly felt his ruffled nerves calming down and gave Kakashi a baffled expression, "What are you doing with a chopstick?"

Kakakshi's eye widened and Sasuke has never seen him look so genuinely offended, "This. Is not a chopstick."

"It's the token of my affections, Sasuke," then he made a sly smirk that reached to his eye, "But I guess a boy still growing as you might have hard time understanding."

Sasuke deadpanned, "She won't like it."

Kakashi stood up tall and crossed his tough, lean arms over his chest, "And what makes you think that?"

Sasuke had no idea why Kakashi did that. He was as tall and built, if not taller, than his previous teacher. He stated, "You have terrible taste."

"Fufu, this might look like an ordinary wooden hair pin to you, Sasuke," a glint of merriment twinkled in his eye "but...I have a secret."

Even though Sasuke tried to interrupt him, he went on, locking his eye with his pupil's and shrugging his shoulders "It was just a few months ago. I was traveling in a distant island that belongs to the land of Tea. There I got a map of a forest that was made by the locals."

"There, I saw it," he crossed his arms and nodded, the wooden hair pin snugly placed between his knuckles like a kunai "on the map, there was a 'penis tree.'"

Smugly satisfied with the look on his pupil's face, he emphasized what he said, "Yup, a 'penis tree.'"

"The locals said that it was a legendary tree that can only be discovered with the men of greatest stamina and endowment."

The raven haired shinobi clenched his teeth, "Stop..."

"And I finally found it and I got a thick branch and carved it out myself...into this."

Sasuke can swear that he can see the smirk underneath his mask with his normal vision. Kakashi continued, "I can't wait to give this to Hinata san and tell her the story."

But he signed over his bodily safety with the final punchline, "Actually, I don't think I should even tell her it's a hairpin. It might be better if she uses it as a..."

The echoes of shrieking birds sliced through the air.

* * *

"Hinata."

She turned and stared at him wide eyed as she hugged her laundry closer to her chest. She does that instinctively when she is holding her breath, hiding something from him, or bracing for something. Sasuke frowned. He can't help but feel the sense of something prickling in his chest whenever she does that in front of him. _Was he that intimidating to her or did she not trust him enough?_ It was not like he would ever hurt her.

He cleared his throat and awkwardly pointed to the main door to signal that he was heading out.

"The hokage suddenly wants to see me but the kimono shop that has my order ready is closing soon."

After a thoughtful pause, she widened her eyes again and smiled in understanding, "Oh, okay Sasuke! I can pick up the order for you!"

She showed him a radiant smile and he quickly turned his back on her, "Ju-just give the owner my name. I already paid for it."

She loved going out into the marketplace and have an excuse to go window shopping. "Alright!"

Humming, she quickly folded her laundry and placed them in her drawer. Then she brushed her hair and got her purse.

The weather was gorgeous. She loved the feeling of the wind in her hair and face.

Even though she improved in her social skills, Hinata still had hard time walking into stores, especially clothing stores, and just look at them without planning to buy something specific. She would have this sense of guilt when the sales person walks up to her and asks her if she needs help and she has to say "I'm just looking." She did have a few experience having owners or part time workers give her the ugly look whent they learn that she is not planning to spill out her wallet. Or God forbid, if he or she recommends her to try on something, she would blush and not know what to say in order to be polite. She would say "no, thank you" with a shriveling voice and bright red face and leave the shop as if she was caught doing something shameful like shoplifting. So she would just go to used clothes shops where nobody cares if she is just looking or not.

But the shop where Sasuke told her to go is one of the most high quality kimono boutiques in Konoha. She would sometimes go to very exclusive high class kimono boutiques with Hanabi, but for Hanabi's taste, the particular boutique's designs weren't traditional or austere enough. But Hinata loved some of the unconventional and cute kimonos that were on window display in the boutique. She always longed for an opportunity to go inside, peering inside the boutique like a hungry wolf and take a look, but she was as shy as a rabbit when it comes to going inside the clothing boutique with its smiling , perfectly dressed workers and manicured tailors. When an elderly tailor saw her and even opened the door for her and smiled, she blushed like her face was on fire, bowed her head, and moved quickly away, rubbing the back of her neck.

But now she had a perfect excuse to go inside the boutique. She was just picking up her young master's custom order. She doesn't have to feel so shy.

With a deep intake of breath, she opened the door to the boutique.

Thankfully there were a few customers besides her.

She had absolutely no suspicion about Sasuke choosing that boutique in particular. Before she can even question Sasuke's choice, Hinata was overwhelmed by the sight of the various rich colors of silks that opened up to her like heaven. Some richly patterned silks were embroidered with gold or silver threads. A woman, preparing for her bridal kimono, was wearing an obi that shone like purified gold. She longed to finger through the delicious silk ribbons of pastel colors-her favorite sort of colors.

Enticed by the gorgeous silhouette and colors of the dresses, she murmured, "So beautiful..."

Then a low, sensuous feminine voice caught her attention, "Is there is anything you'd like to try on?"

When Hinata looked at the person behind her, her light lavender eyes widened, "Kurenai san!"

Kurenai was one of the very few female companions and acquaintances Hinata had in Konoha. The raven haired beauty smiled as she crossed her arms, "It would be an insult to me and my designers if you refuse!" Her usually wild and tousled wavy black hair was combed and swept up in a classical up do with a golden hair pin tying them up together. She was wearing an elegant light green kimono with a scarlet obi. Hinata couldn't help it that her eyes were scanning over Kurenai's gorgeous green kimono with rapture and envy.

When she finally got back to her senses, Hinata went up to her and covered her lips in surprise, "I didn't know that this boutique belonged to you, Kurenai san!"

Kurenai smiled, "I was the first kunoichi to come from my civilian family, and this is what my family does for a living."

"Ah..." When Hinata nodded, Kurenai asked her, "So what brings you to finally come in here?"

Hinata paled, "Oh, so you know..."

Kurenai smiled, "Know what? That you always meander around, peeping into the window but never come in even though my manager tells you to? Yeah."

She flushed and hid behind her hands, "How-how embarrassing..."

The brunette in green kimono warmly laughed at her shyness. Then she asked, "So you're here for Sasuke's pick up, right?"

Hinata nodded, her face still red from blushing so hard, "Y-yes..."

Almost too smoothly, Kurenai pulled out a light baby pink kimono with bamboo and peach flower prints,"Well, our chief tailor got sick, so it is going to take extra longer. Meanwhile, you should try these on."

Suddenly an apprentice appeared next to Kurenai, showing them a lovely baby blue kimono and a purple one.

Hinata gaped, shaking her hand, "Bu-but, Kurenai san, I-I'm not even going to the festival!"

But Kurenai and the apprentice weren't gonna have none of it. They gently but firmly pushed her towards the fitting room area, and she kept stammering and blushing as she stalled in her steps, "I...don't have money, so I can't be s-so rude to-"

Kurenai smiled as she shoved Hinata into a red fitting room with midnight dark curtains, "Shush, I'm just telling you that you should kill time by playing 'dress-up.'"

Hinata tried to speak up but the apprentice quickly shoved the kimonos into her arms and pulled the curtains.

Now that she was in the fitting room, and Kurenai was blocking her exit, she had no choice but to try them on. Plus, the kimonos were so beautiful. Maybe she can just try on one...just one.

* * *

As she slowly pulled up the silken sleeves over her body, she became absorbed in thoughts. She found herself going through the leaves of her memories as she looked at the piles of neatly folded silken kimonos that reminded her of the opulent life as a Waker's Pearl in the Realm.

And whenever she remembered what happened in the Realm, she kept thinking of many 'what if's.' What if she didn't exchange her life for Uzumaki and Konoha? Would it have been possible for her to persuade Uchiha? What if she just told Uchiha that she loved him so much that it scared her? Would it have changed a thing?

She would day dream about all kinds of happy endings. About Uchiha dropping his sword and giving up his plan to revenge to live with her. Maybe they could have gone into the woods and live a peaceful life. Maybe they could have had children. In the privacy of her mind, she would give into those fanciful imaginations, but at the end, she would always reach a sombering conclusion. That her love couldn't change the broken and tortured person that Uchiha was.

'Because sometimes...love is just not enough.'

She looked at the tall mirror before her and quietly examined the girl who watched her passively.

She used to cry silently when the realization came to her like a crushing wave, but her heart has became immune thanks to her new life with Sasuke. She would be lying if she said that she fully accepted the fact that her love was simply not enough to replace his desire for revenge. It stings when you face the truth that your feelings for someone was just not enough to cheer up your loved one and change their bleak situation. But she is trying to accept it without making it anyone's fault and think no more of it except as the past. And sometimes it works, but sometimes she finds herself dwelling too much.

At that time, Uchiha had no room in his heart other than his revenge of his family and clan. Nobody could have demanded or coaxed him into changing his life long mission. If his life long friend who became a deity after his friend is not free from his vindictive wrath, then certainly not Hyuuga, the same friend's Waker's Pearl.

What if she told Uchiha that she loved him? Would that have changed a thing? She would ask herself whenever she thought about her and him in the Realm.

But the answer that chided her for day dreaming was always the same. 'It wouldn't have mattered.' Even if she told the vengeful Uchiha that she loved him with all her body and soul, he would never have given up his life long plan to avenge his lost happiness and loved ones. His resentment of Konoha survived thousands of years and still remains a bitter residue in the present Sasuke's heart even if he doesn't remember.

If he would have considered sparing his friend and the villagers, she would gladly have followed him anywhere he wanted to go. If he hugged her with two arms, she would have hugged him with six. If he gave her poison, she would have still given him honey. If he wanted pleasure, she would have given her body as his garden.

But as always, as it always happened in her life, Hinata was never quite 'enough' for anyone.

He would have still killed his best friend and every soul inhabiting Konohakagure. And what would she be after he is done with his quest?

A slave. To make up for killing her master, he could promise her a big, beautiful garden. He might even let her bake in the palace kitchen. But she would have lived the rest of her life as his war trophy. And no matter how beautiful the garden or kitchen was, she would harbor resentment to the man who killed her sovereign. And there would be an inevitable conflict between her and the Second Waker... She knew that such things were bound to happen.

Because she was not just Uzumaki's Waker's pearl, she was his fellow jinchuuriki. Uchiha killing him would have been akin to tearing the thread that connected her heart and body to the source of her power and identity. A most painful severance that can cause a Waker's Pearl great emotional or even physical suffering. Even if she doesn't love Uzumaki the way she did or thought she did, he was the one who reached out his hand to her and gave her a new meaning to go on when she was in despair. What he did at the stone wall of Konoha years ago was still wrong, but he also gave her so much. She still quietly mourned his death time to time by wearing her white jasmine perfume, similar to the blessing oil he used on her in the ceremony.

And in the end, nobody was happy. Out of nowhere, Uzumaki wanted her love, something she could not give any longer because her heart belonged to someone else. She wanted peace, but her love for Uchiha and faithfulness to Uzumaki were always tugging ropes with each other.

Uchiha refused to trust her and wanted her to disown his rival without remorse or pity. Her loyalty to her master and her love for Uchiha was not enough to resolve their history of problems. Rather, she made everything _worse._

But what would haunt her the most was that Uchiha refused to settle with having her heart. He wanted all when he had to choose just one. Revenge and her love. And he chose his revenge.

Her love wasn't enough. At least, not enough to quell his thirst for a vindictive annihilation of everyone she cared for. Her offer of her love was never going to be enough to convince him to change his plan to destroy Uzumaki Naruto and Konoha.

Even though that's the past, she can't help but draw connections to the present,

'Would my love be enough for Sasuke?' she wondered, 'Would he think that I'm enough? Could he be happy with just 'me?''

These days, Hinata was feeling oddly chained up to her young master. Especially when he low key invades her personal boundaries with a straight face, like getting too close to her back when she is doing chores like swiping the floor or drying the dishes.

But that didn't make her view him as a creep. She can't help but blush and wear heart shaped goggles whenever Sasuke does anything remotely intimate. What ever he did made her adore him. Sometimes, he reminded of a big dog, or maybe a big cat that cuddles up to her with a straight, emotionless face.

Was there a reason to refuse him?

Oh so many.

She loved him. It startled her that she can give so much of her heart to someone and still want to do more. If Sasuke was more experienced and manipulative, he might have taken advantage of her weakness to him. But he was living a life as a regular teenage boy in a small village. She was the one who came and complicated his life.

'If I ask myself, if I'm honest with myself, I would admit that I have this hope that he might get his past memories back...'

But she shook her head. She loves Sasuke for who he is right now, not who he might become.

Then the familiar insecurities came to her, 'What if...he decides someone would be better for him? Is it just some infatuation that is common for boys his age?'

She signed. If anyone hears what goes in her head, they would likely throw a hissy fit. Even she doesn't like the insecurity ridden Hinata.

She began disrobing her first choice and thought about other more serious concerns, 'Who is the person who is spreading news that I am here? What is his or her goal? What can they possibly achieve by doing such thing?'

When she was finally donned with the last kimono, she tightened the red braid around her maroon blue obi.

'If Sasuke gets in danger by being with me, I won't know how to live with myself.'

* * *

Both Kurenai and apprentice looked deep in shock when they saw Hinata coming out from her fitting room.

The brunette buxom owner of the shop then smiled graciously, "Hinata, you look so lovely!"

Instead of the usual calm pastel purple or deep cobalt blue that Kurenai expected, she showed up in a peach- pink kimono that flaunted a silvery sheen under the boutique light. At a closer look, there were subtle patterns of floating clouds all over the pink silk but they were barely noticeable. Around her slim waist was a scarlet burgundy red obi with a simple white sash that tied the red obi together. There was also a milk white layer beneath the red obi that had a single ruby red camellia pattern. She looked feminine but regal at the same time.

Kurenai then snaked her arms around Hinata's shoulders and pulled her toward the exit, "Okay, now have fun in the cherry blossom festival. You look like one yourself."

When Hinata protested that she can't go and the lady of the boutique sighed, "Hinata, for a girl your age, you think too much!"

Her red eyes gleamed, "Just have fun."

"But the dress!" Hinata couldn't just leave with such an expensive dress. It looked like it would cost at least 60 K in local currency.

An assistant almost blurted out -"Sas-"

But Kurenai quickly cupped her mouth and said "It's on the house."

"But it's so expensive! I can't-"

She softly patted on her cheek that reminded her of marshmallows, "Hinata, as I said, you think too much. Let me play fairy godmother."

"Yes, Hinata san," the assistant chirped in, "you look so pretty tonight. Any boy or man would love to give you his hairpin."

Hinata smiled with a pleased blush on her cheeks but then someone in her periphery inside the store caught her eye. A woman with striking red hair. She was placing different kimonos on herself and she went up to the mirror. There Hinata saw the girl's reflection, and she turned pale as a ghost.

"No...no, no..." She murmured, shaking her head as if her worst nightmare just materialized in thin air.

Kurenai looked at her oddly, "Hinata, are you okay?"

When Karin turned around to see what the small commotion was about, Hinata quickly turned her back and faced the exit.

"No, nothing, Kurenai san. I just feel a little...dizzy."

Karin spared another glance at her direction and shrugged and kept looking at herself in the mirror.

Then Hinata took her chance to bolt out of the spinning door of the boutique.

* * *

It was late at night and the lanterns skirting under the roof of merchant and street food booths lit up the village. The soft light emitting beyond light paper shoji lanterns reflected the snow blanket like cherry blossom blooms. This wasn't a harsh lighting but a soft one that cast an ethereal beauty. Some orange paper lanterns gave out a sunrise-like glow while white ones radiated man-made moonlight.

Strangely, although she felt like collapsing in horror, her mind was extremely calm in the midst of danger.

The minute her byakugan saw the red haired girl, she knew she had to stop Karin's discovery of Sasuke.

And the coincidence that Sasuke was with Naruto and Sakura complicated her mission to protect him from Karin and Kabuto. She has to find some way to get Naruto and Sakura out of Karin's sight. Now. But how...

Then she heard a girl's high pitched voice, "Kya, Sakura chan, are you finally going to ask Sasuke kun out?"

Hinata didn't know why she did it, but she automatically hid behind a wall.

An exasperated but happy sigh, "He finally agreed to come out to the festival! And today's is eighteenth birthday."

'Eighteenth birthday,' Hinata started, 'I...forgot.' A small guilt started to stab at her chest.

"So how are you going to ask him out?" Sakura's female friend asked with enthusiasm,

"I don't know," the pink haired beauty sighed, "He probably will say no if I tell him I want to speak to him in private."

When they turned a corner around the wall, Sakura saw Hinata looking a bit anxious and wary.

Then a light bulb went on in Sakura's head. She smiled brightly, "Hinata chan!"

Glancing at the girl who looked radiant in her dark blue kimono, Sasuke's favorite color, Hinata answered tentatively, "Oh, hi, Sakura chan..." Talking about Sasuke with Sakura was honestly the last thing she wanted to do at the moment, but speak to her she must.

Hinata suddenly wished she chose a more vibrant color than peach pink. She looked like a ghost that could fade in the background compared to the rich, alluring presence of Sakura. But unlike Sakura, she looks awkward with rich primary colors-she had to admit the truth in a boutique costumer's snide remark that the bright blue kimono was floating in air, so unremarkable was her presence.

Sakura's friend looked at both Sakura and Hinata, whether comparing them in beauty or wondering about their relationship she didn't know. Then she saw a guy in the corner waving at her. With a bright smile, the friend excused herself, "My boyfriend's here. See you later!"

When Hinata and Sakura were alone, the former started to show her nervous tic of twiddling her fingers and bowing her head slightly. Meanwhile Sakura stood tall and confident.

"Hinata chan, you know that I really like Sasuke kun right?" she held both of her hands, "can you please help me? I want to just have a chance to tell him my feelings, that's all."

 _No._

Hinata almost let out the word without thought. Shocked, she bit her bottom lip. She started to realize how full of jealousy and animosity she became at hearing Sakura's simple request.

She averted her long lashed pearl eyes to the side, "Sakura...Sasuke won't be happy when he finds out that I set you two up. He would be furious..."

"It is not really setting us up, Hinata chan~," Sakura pouted, holding on her hands with puppy eyes, "I just really want to talk with him in private. Things have been going well between me and Sasuke kun, so I am a hundred percent sure that it will work out."

Hinata pursed her lips together and remained silent. 'They're...close,' she realized. Somehow the thought of Sasuke and Sakura smiling together, underneath a pink frothy cherry blossom tree just made her want to slap away Sakura's hands in anger. She imagined them accomplishing missions together, Sakura saving Sasuke when she can't, and Sasuke being with Sakura when the pink haired beauty is by his side. These days, Sasuke was spending even more time with Sakura than herself because of his missions.

'No, snap out of it,' she reprimanded herself, 'there was Karin to worry about. If she finds out about Sakura and Sasuke, reincarnated and in the same team...' She shivered.

"Hinata," Sakura' emerald eyes looked at her a bit suspiciously, "it's not like you...like-"

Her pearlescent eyes widened and she jerked up her head, "No, whatever you think, it's not like that." She was surprised by her own frigid tone.

Hinata then finally looked up at Sakura, "I'll let you see Sasuke in private. But...you have to promise me something tonight."

The pink haired girl blushed and vigorously nodded. Hinata then rummaged something beneath her collar. Then she pulled out two yellow paper slips with black calligraphy that state, "Amorphous."

"This is for you and Sasuke," she handed the paper slips to her, "I need you to go behind the hokage tower. Make sure nobody sees you. Not even your close friends like Ino. You must go undetected. I'll...send Sasuke to you."

Sakura's eyes brightened like jewels under the sun and she gave Hinata a massive hug. She tucked the paper seal underneath her collar and soared to the rooftops and raced toward the hokage tower.

When she saw Sakura disappear, Hinata turned around and sent a chakra laced message to her master,

 _Hinata_

The low, raspy voice resonating through the chakra waves sent a shiver down her honest spine. She felt her heart beating out of control, but she steeled her resolve. If he leaves the center of the bustling village and hides with Sakura behind the isolated hokage tower, then he'll be temporarily safe. Then she'll find a way to drag Karin out of Konoha and fight her there.

 _Sasuke, I need you to be with...no, I need to talk with you...in private._

After a pause, her young master asked,

 _...What is it?_

 _Meet me behind the hokage tower. Make sure nobody sees any of you. No matter what happens...please wait there._

She heard his confused voice,

 _Hinata. Hinata?_

but she promptly severed the chakra connection. Even if he doesn't understand her, he'll listen to her. She hoped.

She then looked at the throngs of people, clad in kimonos or light, summer wear, enjoying the festival with cotton candy or matcha tea ice cream.

"Would you like a mask, miss?" a young boy with a boxful of animal or goblin themed masks grinned. There were fox masks, wolf masks, panda masks, all kinds of masks to choose from. She really liked the panda mask.

She chose a white plastic mask with orange claw marks on each cheeks and slit feline eyes-something that looks as different as possible.

Nobody suspected that she was Hinata as she skirted through the crowds of people.

Suddenly, she saw a tall, blond clad in a pastel orange yukata standing by one of the water balloon game booths.

She grabbed his arm, "Na-Naruto kun!" The blond recoiled in surprise at the girl wearing a strange mask. He recognized her immediately, "Hi-Hinata chan?"

"Do-do you want ichiraku ramen, Na-Naruto kun? It-it's my treat!" She was willing to blow up her wallet as long as it means taking the loud, boisterous reincarnation of the First Waker out of the most populated streets in Konoha. Someone was sneaky as Karin will undoubtedly take advantage of the crowds to weave her way in and out like a serpent.

Oblivious Naruto laughed like a good natured, energetic boy-man he was, "Nahh, thanks though, Hina chan! I am more interested in the street food booths and games going on right now. Look at this!" He threw several more water balloons and scored a perfect record. He gave her the prize-a ramen themed silken handkerchief.

She laughed and received the gift with two hands, "Ha...ha...thank you, Naruto kun." Then suddenly a thought occurred to her, "Wait, Naruto kun. I'm wearing a mask. How did you know it was me?"

He scratched his tan cheeks with his index finger, "Well, your hair." His azure eyes fluttered down to her indigo tresses spilling over her shoulders. And he smiled, baring his teeth, "And your voice."

"Oh..." She quickly spread out the silk handkerchief and covered her hair. She looked like something that came from a slap stick reality show-a girl wearing a ramen themed head cap, a slitted eyed mask, and a pink kimono. She looked around herself and pointed at a booth that was at the way end of the main street,

"Na-Naruto, there is a competition for a year worth of free instant miso ramen!"

He pumped his fist forward, grabbing Hinata's hand with his, "Alright! We can split it, Hina chan!"

Hinata followed after him, but her head was full of worries and concerns for Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto.

Luckily, Hinata got to steer Naruto around with her, choosing isolated spots where they can easily hide from a certain red head.

Then right when she was at her limits to play 'hide seek,' she saw Karin seething in rage as she looked around.

Naruto whistled, "Ai, ai, ai...Seems like somebody is going to throw a storm." Hinata turned pale. They were so close. Karin was walking toward their direction. Luckily, Karin had yet to spot them.

Suddenly, Karin started to throw a fit, "That damn scientist must've given me wrong info! There's nobody here!"

Startled by Karin's proximity, hissy fit, and chakra spikes, Hinata shoved Naruto to a dark back alley.

She pinned the surprised young man to the brick wall, "Naruto kun, I'm sorry, but...please just stay like this." She took off he mask and shoved it on his face, "Wa-wait, Hinata? Hinata!" But his voice was muffled by the mask that closed on his face like a door.

Then she buried her ramen silk handkerchief wearing face into his chest.

Frozen, Naruto just placed his hands on the quivering girl's shoulders.

Beyond the narrow slits of his mask, he saw the red haired, four eyes woman snap her angry gaze at the alley and then turn and stomp away in rage.

Sensing that the girl was the cause of Hinata's bizarre behavior through the night, he lifted his hand and removed the mask from his face.

"Is..." she asked carefully, "she gone?"

He looked down at her, surprised. Then he smiled, his eyes narrowing in endearment and corner of his lip rising in a cat-like smirk.

He reached toward the handkerchief, the prize of the water balloon show, "Yeah, now you can get rid of that silly head-ca-"

When his fingers tugged at the handkerchief, her dark blue hair spilled like liquid silk over his coarse fingers.

Then she looked up at him. He stared down at her, his bright blue eyes widening. He looked as if his time has just stopped for him, "Wow..."

He didn't realize that he still had his left hand grabbing her shoulder. He felt lost in her light lavender eyes that stared up at him, widening slowly in surprise over his familiar behavior.

Unconsciously, he dropped the silly mask at their feet and grabbed both sides of her head, taking a closer look at the pretty creature. Not to kiss or make any move like that, but he just wanted to look. She was so...pretty. It was like someone punching him straight in the gut-pretty.

As shallow as it seems, he was just a eighteen year old male. And he wasn't good at describing beautiful women, but he knew one when he saw it. It was like grabbing a warm, fragrant marble in his hand, smelling and feeling the rush of heat from every core of his being.

Then he playfully smushed her cheeks together with his hands. The petite woman made an indignant squeak, "Na-Naruto kun!"

He grinned widely at her. He was getting weird there. He almost-almost- did something the teme would kill him for but now things were back to normal and they could go back to frolicking in the festive streets.

His fingers then pinched her cheeks, forcing a splitting grin, "N-Naruto kun, stop!"

Then he heard someone call them at the alley, "Hinata chan?"

Both Hinata and Naruto's eyes snapped toward the voice. It was Sakura, looking surprised as ever by their intimate positions in the dark alley.

Hinata quivered at what Sakura's presence implies, "Oh no..."

Behind Sakura was Sasuke. He was dressed in a dark blue yukata, very similar to Sakura's. His face can be mistaken as impassioned and calm. But his eyes that stared at them as he stood watching them were ominous and cold. Seeing that look on his best friend's face, Naruto pulled his hands away from Hinata's face that was being pinched lovingly.

Naruto saw the look exchanged between Sasuke and Hinata. Him, looking down at her with icy calm, and hers, with a pleading expression in her eyes. Naruto scratched the back of his head and made an uneasy smile, "Ah..haha...Umm, Sakura, can I talk with you a bit?"

"But Naruto..." Sakura wasn't sure if it was a good idea to just leave Sasuke with Hinata by themselves. The tension between them was so thick that she wondered if she should just stay so Hinata doesn't have to receive the full blow of his wrath.

"Sakura," he kept his cold eyes on the petite blue haired woman, "I need a word with...my..." He gritted his teeth and turned his fiery eyes on Hinata who flinched in return.

When both Naruto and Sakura left, there was a long tense pause.

Hinata stammered, "Sa-Sasuke, the thing is—"

Sasuke interrupted her,

"Is this why you set me up with Sakura?"

Stung by his cold words, she stared at him with wide, pained eyes. Then she quickly shook her head, "No, it isn't-"

"Then why were you with Naruto?" She can still feel his growing anger carefully curated into an icy demeanor. He took a step forward, sending chills down her spine. "Why did you send Sakura to me?"

Hinata looked up to him, trying to explain without telling him too much about her past, "Someone was targeting Team 7, Sasuke. And that person has much power. I had to get you and others out of her sight."

His dark eyes widened slightly. Then he quickened his pace towards her

"Why didn't you tell me-"

"Sasuke, stop," she interrupted him by holding up her hand and shook her head sadly, "You can't win." Kabuto is behind Karin. Who knew how much anger, malicious will, and power they have now. She just can't afford losing Sasuke again. No, she won't lose him again because of her weakness.

He froze, stunned. Then Hinata saw the impact of her words. She has done grave damage. She really wounded his pride. Feeling the sting of guilt, Hinata reached out of her pale, delicate hand and tried to comfort him,

"But...she's gone now, so it's oka-"

He snapped his hand away from her gasp and shot her a cold, deadly glare, "What makes you think this is all okay?" He didn't bother to tone down his raised voice, "you always keep things like this from me. Instead of telling me what's going on, you hide things and tell me to not question it."

She pleaded with him, _please don't let me lose you again._

"You would've tried to fight her if I told you. I had no choice. She's not like the girls who chase you around, Sasuke. She's dangerous."

The raven haired shinobi turned and rested his hand on the hilt of his sword. He spoke as he struggled to strangle down the hurt in his voice,

"It's not for you to decide whether I can win or not."

But her voice stopped him,

"I thought I told you to not confuse foolhardiness as bravery."

Then she started. _Confusing foolhardiness as bravery._ Why is she saying the exact same thing Second Waker sama told her when she wanted to go to Konoha? And why to Sasuke, the very reincarnation of Uchiha sama?

She gasped, "ah-"

Then the pieces came together.

'So this is how he felt...Waker sama...' When she realized how much he had cared for her, her heart started to fall apart. Because she wanted to prove him wrong so badly, she disregarded how dearly he cared for her. Just like how Sasuke was doing right now.

The past was repeating itself. Again, he was being pursued by Sakura and Karin. Again, she had slim chance of winning against those two overpowered beautiful girls. And again, she felt her and Sasuke growing further apart. Suddenly the past fell down on her like a century old avalanche.

Suddenly tears started to fall. Tears of mourning and regret and pain of loving someone that is not meant to be. Startled by her tears, he felt his anger disperse like falling cherry blossom petals and he reached his hand toward Hinata.

 _flinch-_

But she flinched as if he was a bee. She looked at his surprised face and realized what she has done. She had hurt him. It was not simply just his pride as a ninja. Her recoiling at his offered attempt at an apology and affection cut him even deeper, making him quietly bleed. Even if he was one of the most feared nin across the nations, she knew the uncertain, vulnerable, tender hearted boy beneath it all. The boy who had treated her as a fragile glass figure ever since she has sworn herself to him and he called her 'land of sun.'

Like a coward she knew she was, she took a step back. "I'm...I'm so sorry." And she ran away, leaving him in the alley alone by himself.

* * *

She didn't realize what a hypocrite she was being. Now that she did, she cried her way down the main street. She didn't have the courage to face him back in the Uchiha mansion. Maybe he'll be waiting for her, with her suitcase by his side, preparing to kick her out. When she finished crying, she sniffled and looked up at the full moon. She quickly dried her tears with her sleeves.

Misplaced or replaceable affection or not, Sasuke wanted her. And without being able to explain why, she had inadvertently rejected him. She hurt him before, and now she was hurting him again. It would've been better if they never crossed paths.

"I-I have to go back to Sasuke," she turned heels and went back toward the main street, "I-I have to tell him I'm so-sorry." The last "sorry" sounded more like "so-wee" due to her poor attempt to keep down her muffled sob. Already, the streets were becoming empty and deserted—one by one, leaving the party to go home.

Several people passed inquisitive gazes at her face that showed painfully obvious signs of tears.

When she finally spotted a tall man with spiky, black hair, her eyes brightened in recognition.

She was about to approach him, but she stopped when she saw the look on his godly face as he took in the sight of her. The alluring depths of his dark eyes looked down at her as if he didn't know whether to plunge kusanagi through her chest or just smolder her in amaterasu. His pale face was devoid of visible human emotions but at the same time so full of dark energy that was obscured by his calm, haunting visage.The moon behind him cast an ominous contrast of light and dark across his sculpted features.

But anyone could still tell that he was furious as he observed her like a beast preparing to lunge and make its kill.

He took quick, agile steps to her and grabbed her wrist with such a fury that she almost tripped over.

As he dragged her along with him, she panicked, "Sasuke, I-" When he showed no intention of slowing down, she dragged her feet along the road and touched his hand that locked her bare wrist in a steel grip, "no, wait-" Her sleeve fluttered, flashing her pale arm.

"Stop" he growled as he pushed her to the brick wall, "fighting me!"

The animalistic frustration in his voice was so palpable that she froze. Her shoulders winced slightly when he slammed at the wall with his hand. The aftermath of his outburst was intense silence where she can only hear her own heart beating in apprehension.

His eyes flashed red and the black tomoes spinning in his irises told her that he was casting a genjutsu. Her pearly eyes darted anxiously to see people treading by and laughing as if they didn't see the village heart throb pinning his adoptive sister on a wall of the brick fence in the middle of the main street. He had trapped the passerbys in his genjutsu, a skill he learned from her recently. Except she didn't give him back some of his chakra and taught him so he can use it for _that_.

Tenten and Rocklee happened to pass by and stare straight into her eyes. Ino was with them.

Hinata hushed her breath as Sasuke glared back at them, locking her on the wall within his arms possessively.

Ino wondered aloud, "why is there an empty fortune teller booth?"

Tenten shook her head and shrugged, "probably gone out of business," while Rock lee went on a rant about the youth of striving for mystery and entrepreneurship.

"By the way, has any of you seen Sasuke?" Ino asked, oblivious to the genjutsu.

When they left, she let out a breath she was holding in fear of getting caught. A secret part of her thanked Sasuke for his genjutsu that made passerbys think that there was nothing but a vacant fortune telling stand where they were.

But he had his ebony colored eyes back on her.

He sprawled his hand on the wall directly by the side of her head, "I don't care if it's not me that you want." He whispered in a dark, raspy voice that made the minute hair on her face stand in alert.

Hinata looked up at him, speechless, mesmerized by the torment in the way he gritted his teeth and lowered his head.

He continued, "And I don't care if you hate my touch." His warm breath emitted the smell of rain and wet fog in dawn and a faint aroma of burning ashwood "I'm not letting you go."

Then he clenched his hand that rested on the wall, "I'm not letting you go. You hear me?" He leaned his other hand on the wall, caging her in as his spine curved and black hair mussed head bowed in defeat. Strangely it was him who felt defeated as he claimed ownership over his Waker's Pearl.

It pained her to see that she was the cause of his weariness. She felt the four words tug at the tip of her tongue _but I..._ She shook her head. She wanted him so much. But she can't just raise him and eat him up like some shameless cougar, could she? It was against her sense of shame, honor, and honesty. If Uchiha sama saw what she wanted to do with his reincarnated self, what would he say? He'd probably be disgusted with her manipulating a boy who has no crime but having common misplaced infatuation.

For a moment, he stared down at her. Then he tilted his face sideways as he approached her. His black soft hair fell on his cheekbone as he tilted his face as he carefully, steadily bridged the distance.

As much as she wanted to just hug him in a tight embrace, Sasuke was like a forbidden piece of fruit-or maybe in her case, cream cheese swirling cinnamon roll that she shouldn't touch. Sooner her failure to resist temptation will catch up to both of them.

Seeing what he wanted to do, her large eyes looked back at him with a fire of challenge. She was daring him to go on with his actions, hoping to intimidate him into giving up. By staring at him hard instead of closing her eyes like in romance novels.'I-I bet that he can't even get close to me if I stare at him so hard!' If it was other men, the sight of Hinata opening her big light lavender eyes with alert vigilance might make them cower in shame and feel worthless for trying to impose on her. She saw it work several times, so she glared at him as menacingly as a rabbit.

But then Sasuke wasn't like other honorable men.

For a moment, he looked back at her eyes squarely. Then without caring he deliberately pressed his lips flush to hers without an ounce of shame. As if it was the most natural, right thing to do.

Pleasure shot through her entire body, and too quickly, she accepted the kiss with a sense of defeat. She felt her shoulders rise and fall in despair and she closed her eyes. When he felt the tension in her body slowly dissipate, a corner of his mouth went up in a smirk and he hummed in appreciation and gradually deepened the kiss.

Sounds of suckling and sharp inhales escaped from their joined mouths. Whenever she tried to drag her lips and tongue away from his manipulations, he growled and penetrated through her resolve by balling her hair in his fist, tilting it over, and spilling more of his possessiveness. When Sasuke learned that she was still going to resist, his tongue grabbed and coiled around her and secreted its warm saliva over her tongue that trembled back. She told herself repetitively, _no I don't want this. I can't want this._ She began to tear up, letting herself feel sullied by the coerced mating of their tongues. Her lips mouthed 'no,' but he ignored her and focused on taking the innocence of her lips against her will. Then he finally pulled his dry, pale lips back and proceeded to whisper into her ear, his nose half nuzzling the shell, "That was...very cute." Her thinking that she could keep her rein over him as if he was still a child. It was cute. He loved how her mood transitioned from the crescendo of a fiery challenge to a soft murmur of resignation. And then his hands roamed around her upper back, refusing to heed her desire to move away. Then his hand went under and stroked and grabbed a handful of her smooth, plump bottom, relishing in his control as he bit back a groan. He tilted his face and when she turned her face away from him, expecting another brutal kiss, he went to her neck and stole several licks. When his tongue grazed her beating pulse, she gasped and cried out "no, we shouldn't-". He roughly muffled her with his hand and looked at her pale, soft neck. A blue necklace.

At the sight of the necklace, Sasuke made a grimace. He didn't like that necklace. She always wore that cheap little leash under her clothes for years and only took it off when she is taking a bath. Who gave it to her. Why did she treasure it so much? She said it belonged to someone she deeply cared for and playfully called "bishounen sama."She said she was also orphaned. Was it a past lover she can't get over? A puppy love? It can't be a secret boyfriend because there was no way she could have dated anyone while escaping his notice.

He gritted his teeth and grabbed the delicate string and snapped it away from her neck with a swift yank. Her pearl eyes widened in horror, "No, wait!" and she renewed her struggles, "Please give it back, Sasuke!" As she tried to push him away, he didn't budge, so disparate was the level of their strengths. She stared at her blue necklace that Sasuke surveyed in his palm and casually tucked into his pocket attached to the inner lining of his yukata sleeve. She started to cry, tears dropping like a child whose plush bunny was taken away, "Give it back," but he raised his sleeve beyond her reach with a impassive expression. He had sadistic tendencies like a bully who liked to torment his secret crush with petty mischief like tugging her hair or taking away her favorite blanket. Then he resumed to grab her wrists and pull her hands away from her weeping eyes, and force his mouth on her.

When the guilt of seeing her sad lavender eyes get to him, he told himself that she deserved it. She had hurt him too much, treating him as a boy to scold time to time without caring to know how much he craved her attention, putting others like Naruto before him in his fights and disagreements, when all he asked for was something benign and little as an uninterrupted date. He was having his eighteenth birthday, finally moving from being a boy to a man. He wanted to show her that how much he cared and longed for her, for all these years he had to hide himself in fear of scaring her away. He purposely let her boss him around and patronize him in hopes that she can let him in. If she had given him as much as that, he wouldn't been so resentful and downright frustrated like some starved animal.

"Sasuke, no, give it back," she cried, "it's mine..." He teasingly traced the upset girl's lips with his tongue then roughly, passionately infiltrated through her mouth, "nhm! Umm!" He kept going with his thrusting strokes as if he wanted to steal her breath. She shivered as his tongue grabbed her shy one and plunged it into another series of forceful mating. She made her weak protests as she beat at his back and moaned "ah! Ne-um! Umm! Uhm!"She never knew him to be so perverted as he robbed her of her innocence as if he owned it. And it seemed he went off on her moans of protest. It was not fair. She thought kisses were supposed to be sweet and romantic. But all the kiss was doing was take and take from her. When he finally released her, she could see faint opaque vapor rising between their panting mouths. She made a soft whine, beat his chest weakly, and whimpered, "give it back..."

He carressed her flushed cheek with the back of his knuckles and asked her with a smirk playing in his lips,"Then are you going to be good?" When she slowly nodded, he made a quick peck on her cheek to make good on his tacit promise.

As his hand stroked the rotund silhouette of her breast down to between her legs, she felt a single tear running down her cheek. His anger was supposed to possess her and violate her but deep down she felt a strange kind of excitement and pleasure in his heated eyes that raked over her body. Then she felt a hot pair of lips viciously attack her neck and him imposing his entire weight on her as if he intended to devour her on site.

Between her sharp gasps and his raspy breathing, she could hear his sensuous and blush inducing half-threats. "You don't want the villagers hear us, do you?" He purred. Then he grasped her wrists and pinned them by the both sides of her head and deepened the kiss, his long, warm tongue forcefully thrusted into her mouth. She shut her eyes tight and a tear stung at the corner of her eye as she felt his tongue tussle with hers for control and elicit unwanted moans. She hated how hopelessly she was swept by the wave of her desires and bombarded each time with the punctuated shock of his passion. Every kiss, every murmured call of her name made her body squirm with shyness and expectation even though she knew what they were doing was wrong.

Right then, she saw Neji who had let loose his flowing, long brown hair and was dressed in a cool grey yukata. He was walking along by himself, observing people in the streets.

She felt Sasuke's jawline press to the hollow of her supple cheek, and she was feeling heady with the scent of his clothes and soft skin. She was surprised. That such a sad, brave boy and tough fighter can possess such baby soft skin that was cool to the touch. But they needed to stop. She needed help. She didn't know what she would be tempted to do if they stayed longer like this. She might be tempted to...confess and lay her heart bare to him who might break it . Not because of any ill will but because he used to hurt her. Choosing revenge over her. And the way Sakura boasted how close they were together. Anger and jealousy surged. No, she can't let him just have his way with her.

Trying to steady her mind from the dizzy fog of her desires, she shook her head and cried out,

"Neji kun-!"

Sasuke froze a little and then a dark shadow of anger and lust cast over his face. He grabbed the both sides of the collar of her kimono and yanked them down, revealing ivory shoulders and an innocently peeping cleavage between her breasts. At the sudden exposure of her body, she froze and looked up at him in fear. Then she trembled and blushed and became teary eyed. Her hands automatically crossed over her chest.

He whispered into her reddened ear,

"If you don't want him to see you like this, be quiet."

At his lowly voiced threat, she lifted her wet moist eyes up to him and begged, "Please..." Then she lowered her eyes and drew herself closer to his chest as she was feeling slightly chilly and cold and needed warmth. Even though she had full trust in Sasuke's genjutsu abilities, the proximity between herself and the people she knew caused her face to flame in embarrassment. She unconsciously huddled near the closet object that can hide and protect her—-Sasuke, hoping that he can act as her shield. She just wanted to feel less exposed and naked. She has never showed her shoulders and cleavage to such extent before, not even in Suna. When he looked down, it almost seemed as if she was cuddling to his chest.

Meanwhile, he was struck by her unexpected submissiveness and, for a lack of a better word, cuteness. In fact, she was being too cute for her own good.

Her voice was shaken with embarrassment. She implored softly, "I...I won't do it again." She lied through her teeth as she submissively cuddled to his chest, waiting for her chance to tuck tail and run.

"Oh Hinata..."Feeling an impulsive surge of endearment and lust, Sasuke slowly wetted his drying lips and seized her right earlobe in his mouth. Surprised by his attack, Hinata squirmed in his arms, her face looking like it was going to combust any second. The fire that he was stirring up in her chest and loins started to incinerate all thoughts but the shell of her ear entangled with his tongue and lips and occasionally grazed by his white teeth.

In a second, she was panting and gasping heavily in reaction to his passionate treatment of her right ear. The sensitive shell of her ear was being sucked on and prodded by his tongue and gently chewed. All she could hear was the wet sound of sucking and kissing.

She gasped in alarm, "Ah!" when she managed to pull back amidst this fog of tainted desires, Shelooked at him accusingly, "That-that is-" she blushed furiously as she glared at him"too bold of you!"

His once listless dark eyes snapped in focus and he frowned, looking annoyed "No, it isn't." And he switched his attention to her other ear and lavishly treated her again.

Her mind became completely blank as she felt the senses of her entire body focusing solely on her left ear. Overwhelmed by the intense affliction, she squeezed her eyes shut and held onto the wall behind her.

When Sasuke finally released her tender ear that reddened in pleasure, she was finally able to hear the sounds that were escaping underneath her breath. She didn't realize that she was moaning and panting with such eager excitement. She opened her eyes but she didn't have the courage to face him anymore. She berated herself _I gave in...Oh God._ She hid her face behind her hands.

After taking her wrists and pulling them away, Sasuke scanned her face, from her sweat matted dark blue hair to her panting, reddened lips. He spoke in a raspy voice, "It's nice to know that you are after all Hinata," his ink black orbs perfused her from her ornate but subtle pink dress to her pouty, cushiony lips, "but you're really bad at keeping your voice down." He chuckled as his dark obsidian eyes narrowed at her in playful reproof.

He grabbed the edge of her collar down and slowly revealed more skin, slipping past her shoulder and dangerously close to exposing her nipple. She discreetly looked at him. His smirk that tugged on a corner of his lips, the way his breath fanned her eyelashes, and his gaze scrutinizing her chest area. All in a public space. Hinata was overwhelmed. She shuddered, nit sure if she was feeling fear or passion.

Then she saw a tall, blond shinobi looking for someone just twenty feet away, "Sasuke! Hinata chan! Where are you guys?" If there was anyone to take on Sasuke, it was him.

Watching her with eyes that turned cold again, he asked, "Looking for your knight in shining armor?"

Then without any warning, he pounced her and rubbed his clad hard-on at between her forcibly spread legs. As she fought him, he spread his hand over her thigh, pinning her on the wall and spreading her for his desires. He rubbed himself against her roughly, stimulating her until she felt raw and tender in the tiny storm he was throwing her in. She bucked and strained in response to the painful, euphoric pressure that made her feel like Sasuke was splitting her body like halves of fruit. And he moved against her, faster and faster, looking down at her like a predator pawing at its prey before the gratifying bite. _She was his._

"No!" She cried as he hooked his muscled arms beneath her underarms and immobilized her upper body's movements. Then he thrusted his protrusion against her repetitively but with doubled roughness and her body bounched up and down, her kimono loosening in process. Thr collar was falling apart, revealing her bra straps. The obi sash was loosening due to their erratic movements that kept her moaning and writhing in pain and bliss. She cried "No, Sasuke!" as she felt moisture seep into her panties,making her feel wet and needy between her legs. She said no to his dark thick lashed eyes that appraised her as she involuntarily moved along with the rhythm of his hips. But here she was, looking as if she was giving him an erotic performance and enjoying it. Meanwhile, Sasuke was in literal heaven. He grabbed her right ankle and hooked it around his waist and ground against her until she was a weeping, sobbing mess. In awe of what he was seeing, he released his iron grip on her poor, exhausted legs.

His outstretched fingers stroked the entire length of her body wrapped in the gorgeous silk. He had her right where he wanted her...but something more. Then he made a final tug on the braided sash on her obi and her dress loosened, showing off her ample breasts. The white bra worn under kimonos had a zipper between the mounds of breasts so he easily zipped down the bra and revealed the body that was no longer constricted underneath.

She weakly cried "stop," but he single handedly held both of her arms against the wall and bared her, leaving little to the imagination.

She could feel his dazed, heated eyes taking in the sight of her breasts—the palest part of her body with the exception of dusky pink nipples that hardened into dark brown nubs. She teared up in humiliation and struggled against his hold on her arms.

The embarrassment that made her face, neck, and breasts flush red to her shuddering breath—everything about her was gorgeous and tantalizing. His smoldering dark eyes raked over her breasts with hungry appraisal as he cooed gently, "Look at you..."

She gasped at his hungry, lustful gaze and shook her head vigorously, bending over to conceal her naked breasts even for a little. Her bare ivory shoulders shook in tremidation.

He switched both of his hands that were grabbing both of her wrists with a single grip and pinned them above her head. Then he grabbed her chin and roughly jerked up her humiliated face. His tongue came out and swiped over his own lips and he told her or maybe even himself in a barely audible, raspy voice.

"I deserve this."

When he tried to kiss her, she turned her face away and strained her neck to see anyone who can help her.

His dark obsidian eyes looked fogged and dazed as he took in her neck and breasts that kept moving in a desperate attempt to get away.

"After everything you made me go through, I deserve this."

Then he crashed himself against her, sliding his hand between the soft fleshy mounds of her breasts, rubbing his lower half against hers. Sasuke managed to bite in his groan when she struggled against the hold on her wrists. The heat below made him hard and aching for release and he decided that he was just going to have to...She just needs to know that she belonged to him and him only.

"I'll just have to take you," he whispered as his warm breath fanned a stray black lock sticking to her sweaty pale neck, "you give me no choice," he whispered as he traced the line of her neck to her collarbone, "if you keep fighting me."

She shook her head sideways, but her full breasts that enticingly swayed as she struggled didn't help her case. "N-no Sa...Sasuke! I-I hate you like this!"

She shed futile tears. She can't afford desiring him more than she already does. Why can't he just let her be like some selfless nun that works in his shadows?

He started for a moment. 'Hate' was quite a strong word for Hyuuga and it almost jolted him out of his sexual frustration addled mind.

But even when she was trying to fight him off, she was tempting him—her red cheeks, lips opening in protest, and the bewilderment in her face, to her full, generous breasts. Any hot blooded male would strip and ravish her in a second. And Sasuke could hardly count the times he would look at her from afar and desire her in the comforting solitude in his dark, sheltered mind. How many times he caressed her, raped her, fucked her in his imagination.

He added strength to his grasp on her arms that kept flailing and fighting him back. He looked at her face, flustered and confused by what he was doing to her.

Then his fingers curled around as he cupped her mound between her legs. His entire hand that boldly cupped her private treasure moved back and forth as he kept his possessive grasp.

She tried to pull away his hand that possessively cupped her, "Ah, no, please Sasuke...ah!" But in retaliation, his hand stopped its aggressive touch and rose and grabbed one of her breasts, giving it a firm, dominating squeeze. The feel of her nipple poking at his palm made his mouth salivate in hunger. He reveled in holding her breast, what she viewed as a source of embarrassment, in his hand. He massaged his palm all over her, dominating her, possessing her.

She saw someone beyond his shoulder and protested, "No, the-there's Sakura. We can't-"

"Shut up." He hated seeing Hinata continuously getting distracted by others. It made him feel inadequate. She shouldn't be thinking of others orpay attention to the obnoxious pedestrians who don't even know what is happeninf before them. It was killing his mood. He grabbed and lifted her wrap skirt and drew it away, revealing her soft,enticing white panties. When she gasped and tried to move forward, he unexpectedly released his grip that pinned her to the wall. But right when she took a step away from him, he snaked a powerful arm around her waist and slammed her back to his chest without effort. Pressing his hand over her small back, he bent her over.

"What are you—"

Before she can let out her question, he grabbed her wrists behind her as he rode her, pushing at her intimate folds and slamming his hips against her as he pulled on her wrists.

This was a far too humiliating position for Hinata to be discovered in. The heat tingling from his budge inside his yukata made her squirm in embarrassment and something darker and sinful.

She tried to hold in her gasps, but the result was producing sexy, sharply muffled mounds that made him further push the hard ridge of his need against the crevice between her ass cheeks, "Umph! Ah-ah-! Umph-!"

"Ugh, ugh, ugh..." He growled roughly as he slid his hard on across her panty covered clit and slammed his hips against her with all his might. He winced at first at the pain of hitting his cock against her barred entrance, but the pleasure of dominating herwas too much to relinquish his grasp. She involuntarily bounced forward as he smacked his solid cock against her. The only thing that was keeping her from falling down was his possessive grip on both of her wrists behind her.

From that humiliating position, she slightly turned and looked up to him in sorrow,

"Sasuke, please... I'll...ahh!" But there was no room for negotiation in his heart. Especially when she is in such erotic posture—her breasts propeled forward as he forced himself on her butt that stuck towards him.

When she looked behind her, she saw him pushing against her, rocking against her in a steady back and forth rhythm. His muscled chest rose and fell, his mouth opened into panting, and the usual pallor of his face was flushed with a healthy glow of exercise and pleasure.

"Hinata, I want you," his voice was hoarse, lustful, and desperate, "why can't you see that I want you?"

He kept pummeling her from behind, sliding in and out of the throes of bliss between her legs, huffing and letting out harsh, gruff sounds. Then he lifted her up by grabbing both side of her waists, rotated and placed her back flat on the wall. Pounding and pounding, he huffed and groaned roughly like an animal in heat. His grunts and moans were drowning her soft mewls of desire.

When she tilted her head sideways, she saw their joined shadows on the ground. Already the streets were empty, saved for them.

A long slanted shadow of a spike haired figure bobbed up and down against a smaller, passive body that she knew was her. The taller shadow was huffing and making rough sounds of dirty moaning. She shut her eyes in dismay. She has lost. He had claimed her. Bith body and soul.

"Ha...ah….ha…, urm...mhn, ugh, mhn!" His rough moans that pinctuated each thrust were hundred times lewder than any kind of dirty imagination Hinata had in her lonely bed. So full of unadulterated rough desire and abandon from a stoic man who doesn't even know how to sweetly usher her to the breakfast table. She swayed underneath him helplessly as she looked up at him with tears.

She reached out her hand to smooth away the stray black lock that dangled in front of his eyes, but misunderstanding her intention, he grabbed her wrist and pinned it above her and forced himself on her. She closed her eyes and a tear fell across her lovely cheek but he ignored such heart wrenching sight in his attempt to have her.

Her struggles started to lessen as she learned that it was no use. And she hid her face into the skin of his bare chest that was revealing itself. As the smell of his skin engulfed her senses, she slowly closed her eyes, letting him use her. The way he drilled onto her rocked her body like tides of sea in the eye of a storm. Hearing his rough grunts that expressed his joy of possessing her, she rested her cheek on his cool shoulder and slowly blinked her eyes as if tired and sleepy. When she felt her cheek on his shoulder, he wanted to shout his triumph. Kidnapper, Waker's pearl, Hinata—she was finally his.

Slowly he descended from his euphoric high, but he was still sweating and panting after they were done. He felt the sinews of his muscles that were tensed up in frustration relaxing in the aftermath. He looked down at the girl he locked with his arms, spent and trembling like a little bird. But he wasn't done with her yet. He gathered her long dark blue hair into a grip. Keeping his eyes on her, he slipped his other hand beneath his own collar and pulled out something from his inner breast pocket. When she looked at what it was, her eyes widened and flitted up to him in question.

It was a hair pin made of gilded and lacquered metal. The length of the narrow hair pin was lacquered with shiny black, but the main ornamental aspect was its two gilded blades of grass that enveloped a tiny, spherical red jade that reminded her of Sasuke's sharingan. It was simplistic yet elegant with a cold hardness and territorial touch. Definitely fits Sasuke's taste as he is more in touch with the aesthetics of weapons than any jewelry.

He pierced the long needle-like pin through her black hair that he gathered into a messy bun. When he retreated by an arms length, placing his hands over her shoulders, he looked down at her with a dazed, tired look in his eyes. When he finally assessed the look, he took it all in-her red, bruised lips, flushed cheeks, hazy white eyes fluttering open and shut in confusion over what just transpired. And the final touch-her hair coiled tightly and bound to the hair pin like an entrapped flower.

Then his lips started to slowly spread into a smile. But the smile didn't reach his dark eyes. They were still burning.

His last word of the night carried through the cherry blossom strewn wind, "Finally."


	25. Chapter 25

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

AN: It was interesting to see so many different interpretations of ch. 24. I updated the chapter, so maybe it can illuminate some issues that weren't quite so clear. As always, I really appreciate encouraging reviews. To be honest, for no fault other than my own, I am feeling my energy battery for writing this fanfic getting dangerously low. I suspect that it is my depression that is sucking off the love and excitement I have for fanfic writing. Like my enthusiasm level is 15%. I truly respect those long standing fanfic writers who continue their epic sagas till the end. Don't know how they do it. Now that I'm done with writing the past, I have to write the present and I'm like-'I don't think I can make it as interesting.' Seriously self doubting myself here...So can you show me some love and encouragement, please? Thank you~~

 **Warning: OOC Sasuke, Hinata, Sakura, Naruto.** Very OOC Sasuke. I cringed while writing this. I'm just not used to writing fluff ! I need a fluff expert to help me.

* * *

The fragrant smell of cherry and the chilly late night breeze swept by the young man and woman. The full moon cast a glorious saturation of light blue in the night clouds that drifted slowly like white elephants. The breeze was perfect-neither too windy or too cold as if the sky was being fanned conscientiously. The view was deceptively beautiful and tranquil enough to hide the nervous tension between the two.

"Sasuke..." her translucent moonlike eyes fluttered, a nervous tic she did whenever she is hesitating upon something. She pulled up her disheveled kimono for modesty. She was not at all proud that she let herself enjoy the illicit moment despite her better judgment. Passion has such way with things. A sanguine blush played on her fair cheeks as she smoothed out her hair that became slightly unruly during their physical contact. She cautiously bit her bottom lip. She could feel his heat come out of him in waves. The smell of laundry that lingered with his body heat felt comforting but it also strangely put her at the edge, dizzying her.

His dark eyes looked down at her expectantly. He was still admiring his handiwork on her hair that coiled around his kanzashi like a red berried vine. He couldn't help but feel a tinge of disappointment when she readjusted her kimono, hiding her breasts from sight. It wasn't just because of his sexual desires. Seeing Hinata, bare-breasted made her feel so close to him in a down-to-earth way. Her features were sometimes too pale and ethereal to look realistic. Sasuke was definitely not the superstitious type but under a moon like this, she always looked like some celestial creature ready to take flight. Leaving him. But her bountiful mounds of flesh with dark nubs tilting downward in weight made her look so present and _real._ Seeing her exposed breasts that slightly sagged due to their overbearing weight made him feel both desirous and calm.

Hiding her luscious breasts under her clothes, she looked again like a pale ghostly moon spirit with a form that eludes his touch.

She continued, carefully weighing each word, "when I give my heart to someone...I really give my all. It's not something that I intentionally do or because I'm a Waker's Pearl. I think it's simply my nature."

She bit her bottom lip again. She felt vulnerable.

Her soft voice continued, "You said you hate jealous, bickering girls. I can be fiercely jealous. Sakura chan...has got nothing on me." She glowered at some invisible rival beyond the horizon.

Sasuke's dark eyes widened by a fraction. But he remained silent, listening to her every word, savoring each syllable in his mind.

Studying his facial expression, she looked up to him, "You might regret it." Her eyebrows knitted against each other as she gave him this warning.

If he was surprised, his face didn't betray any emotions. He stared down at her intently, his right hand brushing on her silky kimono sleeve up and down her arm. He looked as if he was quietly reassuring her or was in deep thought and absent mindedly stroking her sleeve. As his coarse right fingers scraped across the soft silk, making scratchy sounds, his downcast dark eyes shifted to the left and his lips set in a line as if replaying her every word in his mind. His gesture looked both caring and childlike.

She felt her heart thumping at such ambiguous gesture. She swallowed and closed her eyes. Her clenched eyelids relaxed a bit as she breathed in and out. There was always something she wanted to ask him. She couldn't let out her question lest he finds out that she had such sickly desires toward a boy she adopted and trained as an older sister figure. She was scared of him seeing her as if she was some crazy, delusional stalker like his long standing fangirls. But she thought that now was the time, "I have a question."

He nodded. The way he looked at her told her that he was willing to answer any question. Emboldened by his intense gaze, she asked,

"The night you left Konoha...when you were fifteen." She averted her light lavender eyes nervously. She failed at hiding the hurt in her voice, "why did you choose to see Sakura and not me?"

His dark brows frowned in puzzlement. A tense pause ensued. Beneath his calm exterior, he was racking up his brain. _What does she mean by 'seeing Sakura.' I always made it clear to her that she was only a teammate._

He said, "What did you mean that I-" _Fifteen. I had to leave to pay for my iniquity of attacking the Hyuga clan. And leave Hinata behind when she was still in the hospital. I was planning to just leave without telling her because I was having-_ he blushed- _one of my pathetic dreams, and then Sakura-_

Then a lightbulb went on in his head, "Ah."

Hinata was angered by his overly casual response. She thought he would blanche at the fact that she discovered him kissing Sakura on the forehead' before he left. She expected him to show some remorse. Maybe deny it. But here he was, casually admitting it without as much as a shrug of a shoulder. And also, he didn't even notify her that he was going to leave on his Seven Nation mission that time. She always held a grudge against that.

Instead he asked incredulously, "That's been on your mind for all this time?"

She glared at him, her eyes showing sadness rather than anger, "You-you ma-made out with her!" Her accusing words were delivered as a whisper.

"I didn't make out with her," he deadpanned. Then he pointed at the space between him and her, "Making out is something-"

She blushed and quickly closed her eyes and shifted away, "You-you're not answering me why!"

Sasuke just looked down at her hands that clutched into fists and took them in his own, "It was just another condition Sakura made for herself. Just like what transpired tonight. She has no qualms about using my relationship with you to have her way with me."

He took her right hand and examined it carefully. His thumb slid underneath her fingers and prevented her nails from digging painfully into her palm. He always gave her a word or two about that habit, but it seemed it just won't go away.

"That night I asked her to look after you." Her light lavender eyes dilated at his words, looking like the full moon above their heads.

When her nails tried to squeeze back into her palms, he took her hands with his and stopped her anxious habit.

"I told her to stop you from doing anything stupid." His dark eyes looked at her admonishingly but not unkindly, "like fighting against the most powerful clan in the village and its age long system."

Despite herself, she felt a slight creeping smile in her lips and a pink blush suffuse over her nose and cheeks. _He cared about me even though he called me by 'Kidnapper.'_ It was ironic how she was the one to cause the biggest trouble they had in their lives. Sasuke at that time would cause little but more frequent troubles. Who knew that they could create so much fuss. And one wasn't necessarily preferable to the other.

But Sasuke didn't find any of it funny at all. He still remembered seeing her almost getting electrocuted into permanent blindness and the red slap mark on her face like yesterday. It was beyond him how Hinata can still greet Hanabi and be friendly to Neji, even though their family has nearly killed her. She was in the hospital barely getting by with stomaching a bowl of rice gruel a day, and then suddenly the Five Nations pressured the hokage into sending him to life threatening missions that could take years to accomplish. If Naruto wasn't exiled as well, he would have asked Naruto but the only option at that time was Sakura.

"She told me that she'll only look after you if I did what you unfairly accuse me of. It was not 'making out,' Hinata." His face then set in a scowl, "I would've never agreed if I knew she would attach so much meaning to it. I've given no thought to it."

"Ahh..." She stared up at him. "But is there a reason you didn't want to say bye to me? Did I upset you?" She felt her breath still in anxiousness.

A scoff. "I'll let this moment explain itself."

It took three seconds for her mind to register his statement. Then suddenly her cheeks were on fire.

She looked at his intense eyes inquisitively and he merely looked down at her with calm. But the unexpected blush on his face and slight scowl gave away that he was in a bit of discomfort. _He liked me for so long._ The realization struck a chord in her. _I_ _had absolutely no idea that such a young boy would develop that kind of crush. And I thought he would like girls around his age. That is why I gave up on the thought that he might even consider me. He never had a shortage of admirers._

When she finally mustered the courage to look at him fully, she began to see a man. He has always been handsome since she first laid eyes on him after he broke her pearl. Tall, yes, he's grown so much after the two year separation, but she hadn't felt this jittery, nervous, and overwhelmed in his presence when he came back. She just took it for granted that he'll grown up and look like his past self. So why this sudden change in perspective? It was as if she was standing in front of a Sasuke she has never known until now. She turned redder and redder. She slightly bowed her head, her pale milky eyes darting underneath long black lashes, "Th-thank you for telling me all this. I-"

She lifted her long silk sleeves and poorly attempted to hide the blush on her face. As she curled into herself, she looked smaller and smaller in front of Sasuke who already towered above her with his height and breadth. She almost looked as frail as a child.

He scoffed, but in Hinata's eyes, he looked strangely pleased,"I can't believe you thought I liked Sakura."

She tried her best to not mumble or muffle her voice with her sleeve, "But...there's something I would like."

He made a slight nod that encouraged her to speak up, "I want us to stay at different houses tonight."

A pregnant silence fell between them. Suddenly, Sasuke felt lightheaded as if somebody just hit a heavy temple gong at his ears.

Acute despair was making his face look paler than it is, but he fought to remain calm.

Still holding her hand, he asked her tentatively, "Did I hurt you?" His lips and throat felt dry and his voice sounded cracked and eerily distant to himself.

When she saw his eyebrows narrow in consternation and remorse, she quickly held up her hands, "No, I'm not trying to separate myself from you!"

At her word 'separate' Sasuke completely panicked. His mind zoned out as he stood still as if he was in a genjutsu. Finally a ghost of a whisper that expressed all his dormant horrors echoed in the night air, "I hurt you."

Sasuke was many things to Hinata: a bratty student and adopted younger brother, younger brother zoned-housemate who always sassed at her and gave her the cheek. He is even a creep who gets off on thoughts of dominating her. But he never wanted to hurt her. In his head, he knew that everyone has sexual fantasies and that was nothing to be ashamed of. However, he was ashamed of his and he tried to hide them away lest he reveals his sordid secret to the midnight haired and pearly eyed woman on the spur of a moment. Hurting her-that was his biggest fear and that was why he often pushed her away and bottled himself up at times when her cuteness screams for a hug.

But here he might have just assaulted the only girl he has ever treasured. Somehow, his dirty criminal self must have infiltrated between the cracks in the grey zone between consent and desire and took advantage of her. His mind must have deluded itself into thinking that she was enjoying his touches so he can ravish her without having to stop. And what was even worse was that he still wanted to touch her.

"Hinata, I'm-" He desperately needed to apologize. "I'm sorry." He withdrew his hands from her reluctantly and moved to turn away in self disgust.

"No!" She grabbed his retreating hand, earning a bewildered, wild look in her captive's eyes. She stammered, "What we did...I...didn't mind."

Could he have possibly overheard her in one of her lonely late nights? She never felt so passionate and completed in her life. It was as if he had a special sensory for detecting what she wanted at the exact moment and had the ability to match his body with hers like puzzle pieces. She thoroughly enjoyed every moment, but out of shyness, she didn't know the right way to show her appreciation. But if he were to condemn himself as some criminal, then she would have to be honest.

She squeaked out "I liked it too." She was sure her cheeks were turning red every second. "It felt wrong, and I knew that I wasn't supposed to enjoy your attention and...aggressiveness." Both of their cheeks tinted pink at the last word.

She continued, "but I couldn't help it. It was like getting lost in a storm. A very warm, overwhelming storm that I knew would lead me safely to the ground. I wasn't scared." She suddenly found palm reading really interesting as she traced her fingers over his hand that pinned her to the wall,

"I was...really happy." She felt air escaping her lungs as she kept speaking. "You said you always wanted to do 'this' to me...I...also wanted to be held in such way."

She allowed a small smile spread across her eyes, "by you."

She kept speaking as she looked down at his hand that slowly twisted and opened up to her like a sunflower blooming toward her rays, "I know this doesn't make sense and I don't expect you to understand but..." She released his hand and tried to hide behind her long sleeve covered hands like a burrowing squirrel. A tiny voice wiggled out between her silk covered hands.

"What did you say?" He leaned over to hear what she was muffling.

A tiny voice like an ant crawled out. Her frail shoulders shuddered as if a storm was racking her form inside. "I...like you too."

He completely stilled.

She twiddled her fingers, "It's just...please give me some time."

She went on in a rushed manner, "I...have so many things to think about. We've been...undercover as legal siblings for so long." _What would the neighbors think of us?_

But others' opinion was not what scared her the most. She let out a deep sigh, "And I'm your Waker's Pearl. Even if you break my heart one day, I still have to be loyal to you."

There was a heavy pause. He finally broke the silence. His voice was calm but his casual tone merely belied the racking, wild tempest of emotions within, "I can stay over at Kakashi's." At this point, he didn't want to impose what he thinks on her. He knew when to pick his battles. Trying to enforce his thoughts on her will only stress her out. His years of knowing her already made him foresee the consequences of pressuring her.

But she slowly shook her head at his proposal, causing fear and dread lance his chest, "I...want to stay over at Hanabi sama's."

She quickly explained as soon as she saw the look on his face, "Hanabi sama and Neji sama have been telling me I should stay over at the Hyuga complex, and...I think right now is the best time to invite myself into their hospitality."

She played with the hem of her sleeves and looked down at her hands, "I would be very happy if...you let me answer tomorrow."

Sasuke began to think. Getting an answer tomorrow didn't sound so bad at all. Especially since he developed an infatuation with her for as long as he can remember. And he didn't want to come off as clingy and demanding than he already had. He spoke softly, "Okay, Hinata."

A beatific smile spread across her face like sunshine, "Thank you..."

"But if for any reason I suspect that the Hyugas are keeping you for too long, I will only assume the worst." His stern demeanor softened, "I worry for your safety."

She blushed and nodded, "I understand." Memories were coming back to her that only she was privy to.

That night Sasuke walked her to the Hyugas who live in the same street as the Uchiha mansion. He hoped that something will come up that prevents Hinata from staying with the white eyed clan. But unfortunately, it was the dual head clan Neji who opened the door after hearing a clan member's announcement of lady Hinata's visit.

Pushing away the clan member who tried to open the door, Neji swung the wooden door open, "Hinata sama." His mask of calmness was immaculate under the moon rays.

She turned slightly and smiled brightly. Then she deferentially bowed her head with a more polite smile, "Neji sama, it is good to see you."

Behind her, a tall, dark haired man materialized from the dark that served as her back drop.

Neji looked at Sasuke who glared at him and promptly ignored him, turning his attention to the girl. "Hinata sama, to what do I owe the pleasure of seeing you this late at night?" To others like Rock Lee, he would say this with a hint of saltiness and obvious sarcasm, but to Hinata he genuinely meant every word.

"If it doesn't bother you, Neji sama, I would like to take up Hanabi sama's offer of staying for a night."

Neji was surprised. As affluent as the Hyugas were, they had many spare guest rooms so providing for Hinata's one night stay was no issue. It's that Hinata has always politely declined, apologetically declined, Hanabi's offer everytime she told her she was welcome to stay. In hopes of inculcating their lovable benefactress in their clan, the dual heads tried to persuade her into giving up what they viewed was a wretched life of servitude to Sasuke.

Neji looked at Sasuke behind her and decided that it was wise to not press for reasons. And she was always welcomed anyways. "Of course, it doesn't," he made a slight smile that quickly disappeared as it came. He moved to the side and politely gestured her to go inside.

Hinata turned and looked at Sasuke. Her voice sounded faint and a little longing. "Good night...See you."

In response, Sasuke made a curt nod. He remain rooted to the stone steps to the Hyuga gate when she turned and went in.

He clenched his fist and rested his forehead to the door that closed shut to his face.

He whispered "Good night..." The moon shed its cold beams on the tile roofs and the wooden pillars of the Hyuga compound.

* * *

It was close to noon when the Hyugas had a rowdy visitor. The Hyugas were standing in defense stances around the intruder who whipped off his simple but deadly kusanagi. When each Hyuga charged at him, he simply thwarted their attempts to close his chakra points and butted the back of their necks or abdomen with the dull end of his sword's hilt.

Needless to say, Hanabi was not happy to see her clan members scattered around the tall raven, "Is this how you're paying respect to our clan?"

At seeing Hanabi's irate expression, he made a look of slight annoyance. He grunted, "I didn't attack them. They were the ones who put up their guard too much."

A hunch gave Hanabi an idea as she glowered at her co-head, shooting a warning look, "Neji nii"

"Yes?' Neji rather coyly replied but his arms that smugly crossed and his face that threatened to chortle in amusement gave away his guilt and lack of remorse.

"Well, you can apologize to me later I guess," the younger dual head of the Hyuga made a cheeky grin, "I can't wait to see your reaction to this."

The shoji panel door slid open and revealed a woman in a pale yukata with a cool blue shawl that drifted along with her quiet, elegant movement. Around her waist was a dark navy blue obi sash, Sasuke's favorite color. Her dark hair was tied up in a low ponytail, and she daintily slipped into her 3 inch wedged sandals as she descended from the porch. The sight of Hinata in an ivory yukata with a cool pastel blue shawl enveloping her lithe body reminded Sasuke of one of those pure water birds that visit rice paddies in morning fog.

Hinata's transformation brought an electric shock of excitement to the violent atmosphere. Electricity is quiet, saved for the people's awws.

Hanabi was especially pleased with the peoples' reaction, "I told her that she shouldn't try to force herself into prissy colors. There's plenty of colors other than pink that could make her look nice."

At seeing Sasuke standing in tension with kusanagi gripped in his hand, Hinata lifted her hand over her mouth to hide her blooming horror. Then she slowly glided from the wooden deck and stood by him and clasped his hand that held the sword hilt. When she approached, his sensitive nose detected a whiff of powder, but nothing cloying or stuffy. At closer look, Sasuke saw her neck and hands dusted slightly with white powder, accentuating the peach fuzz of her blemishless skin. He soon learned that there was something extremely suggestive about powdered skin—veiled and naked at the same time, prim and bold. And her ash grey eyebrows were darkened delicately with thin graphite and eyelids subtly lined with black charcoal, creating an illusion of thin wisps of smoke around her lilac eyes. Either Hanabi had some untapped potential as a stylist or the Hyugas were loaded with such professions at their disposal. Resting her hand on his, Hinata faced the Hyugas and bowed her head with impeccable manners.

"I am so sorry for my...his regrettable behavior." She acted more like a mother apologizing for her unruly teenage son's behavior than a young girl going out.

She continued clasping his hand with easy grace as if they've done this many times. Meanwhile Sasuke couldn't keep his mouth from gaping as he looked at Hinata as if he was completely lost. She didn't acknowledge him, however, and she continued speaking and smiling to the Hyugas.

When he glanced down, he recognized that her hand that covered his so boldly was actually shaking ever so slightly. He also noticed the slight erratic way she breathed even though she was doing a good job hiding it.

She gazed at the shocked Neji and smirking Hanabi with warmth in her eyes, "Thank you so much for your amazing hospitality. I would be happy to extend such hospitality to you, but your being heads of a clan might not make 'sleep overs' viable. But please do come to our place for tea and dinner anytime."

Hanabi flicked her hair over her back, "No problem, Hinata oni chan*! I will make Neji ni be responsible for the inconvenience today. We're practically next doors anyway."

Hinata bowed, her dark bangs falling, "Thank you Hanabi sama."

She bowed to Neji again, excusing herself with "Then..." She then held tightly onto Sasuke's sleeve and urged him gently to follow after her to the main gates. As in a trance, Sasuke followed her.

When they shut the main gates behind themselves, Sasuke inwardly cursed. Now she was really going to give him an earful. At this moment, he wasn't sure he could protect his ego from plummeting further. _But God, did she look...different._ The wispy make up and her ethereal white yukata and draped shawl made her look cool, collected, and extremely mature. Even though her aesthetic was subtlety, she popped out from the crowd of pinks and purples, flower patterns, and dangling kanzashis. He glanced at her first and then stared at her so boldly that she momentarily squirmed and turned away.

But when Sasuke was sure she was about to turn her back to him and leave him cold, she stopped.

Then he finally realized that her low ponytail was wrapped around his gifted kanzashi, the red gem peeking from the center of the twisted hair knot. Her small delicate fingers tentatively touched her silken black hair that wrapped around the red jeweled accessory. In a soft whispery voice, she told him what she was thinking of,

She wavered between a self-directed remark and a request for validation,"I hope...it looks okay."

Her milky white eyes peered into his. A light pink blush spread across her cheeks.

Sasuke was at lost for words. Instead of an answer, he just gripped her tiny hand in his. He felt his heart pounding in his chest like crazy as he stared down at her widened eyes. Because how could he convey that the moment he saw her, his time stopped for him?

She blushed, "wh-when you sa-saw me..."

She glanced away, "you lo-looked a-angry."

"No," he said bluntly at first. Then with a roguish smile, he uttered "I was just...focused. That was my 'checking out' face."

She balked as if he said something profoundly indecent, "Sasuke!"

Steam seemed to come off her reddened face, and she snatched her hand from his to hide her face behind her hands. She can feel him smiling down at her.

Soon they traveled up and around the streets.

"Sa-Sasuke, s-so Konoha has changed much during your three years of absence. So you-you probably don't know much about where to go. So I-I'll tour you around!"

 _Yes,_ she held out a determined fist of triumph to herself, _this is exactly as Hanabi chan told me to do. If I can't be as cute and energetic as Sakura, then I must showcase my 'mature' charms. Show my...'experienced-ness.'_ Though she wilted at first at Hanabi's advice, she was slowly starting to feel more confident.

"I-I-I'm also way older than you, s-so it's natural that I-I know better about such-"

 _Nonsense_ , was Sasuke's passing thought as he read through her mind like the palm of his hand, but he feigned ignorance.

Nodding cooperatively, he thanked her for her thoughtfulness in a rather unexpected way. His raspy murmur into her ear "Always so helpful" didn't go unheard as his big strong hand gently pressed on her upper back. His voice was low and seductive, and she felt warmth radiating from his body. Hinata felt tiny hair rise on her arms in a tingly pleasant way as she nervously pointed this and that to her tall, dark companion.

It has only been a week since he came back to Konoha and he had been busy with filing reports of his mission and taxes after receiving commission money. But in the midst of all this chaos, he still already knew of Konoha's new gentrification and the details. However, he didn't want to burst Hinata's bubble and for once he decided to just go along. Plus, he never found her so endearing in her sweet attempts to impress him.

But where they happened to go, there was not a single restaurant.

Hinata frantically thought, 'This has to be some mistake.'

Instead for some bizarre reason, there were lines and lines of plastic surgery clinics. Not a single bagel place was nearby. Not a single restaurant. And when Hinata last did her research, this was supposed to be a very 'high class,' stylish, popular area where young couples go for dates. But not a single couple passed by either.

When she told Sasuke, he looked around the area and slipped past a remark that it certainly looked affluent. If the panel boards of the various plastic surgery clinics were any indications. They walked around a block of more sterile, concrete buildings, and Sasuke started teasing her as she dejectedly walked around the asphalt jungle.

Finally they went to a strange semi-decent Chinese restaurant Hinata pointed to because the evening was getting late and they had no other choice nearby. To their dismay, the restaurant happened to have a very restrictive menu.

Sasuke looked up to her a bit uncertainly, "Sweet...or spicy couple menu?"

Hinata wasn't too happy with the only choices either, "Oh, um...excuse me."

She stopped a waitress and tentatively asked, "Is there any other options in the menu?"

"Unfortunately no, ma'am. It's the cherry blossom festival season, so we decided to just make our menu just 'couple's.'"

The waitress left in a huff, blatantly eying Sasuke who was annoyed by her rudeness but chose not to dwell on it.

"I guess we should go with spicy." Hinata peered hard into the plastic menu pamphlets as if staring into the words will miraculously conjure a more edible option.

He spoke a bit too decisively, as if they were devising a mission strategy not choosing a dinner menu, "We shall go with 'sweet.' Spicy has too many possible repercussions." He crossed his arms like a seasoned warrior, but truth be told, neither of them really wined or dined the opposite gender.

She looked up to him, unsure, "But you don't like sweet flavors."

"It's more of a matter of like and dislike, which is safer than getting sick." Once he figured out that she was relieved but still feeling apologetic, he closed his menu book and made his order.

When the server handed out interesting copper bowls and a fermented rice wine, Hinata's eyes widened.

She picked up the wide mouthed bowl, balancing it delicately on her fingers, "Oh~interesting!"

He picked up the other bowl, "I heard that in some cultures, they serve alcohol in bowls." He lifted his dark, intense eyes that reminded her of strangely of a silver fox, "I know that in the land of Earth, some provinces cheer by saying 'Bowling.'" His eye twitched at distaste at his memory of how Kakashi tried to introduce him to drinking at sixteen.

Her eyes widened as she looked to and fro between the bowl in her hands and Sasuke. Then she giggled, "Aww, how punny."

With amusement in her lips, she looked down at the bowl she was holding and said whimsically, "Yes, bowls have many different meanings." She drawled on the last word and lifted her amused eyes to Sasuke's shocked ones.

She paused for a moment, looking inquisitively at Sasuke who froze and stared at her, his mouth slightly open. His look gave the clear message of disbelief, _did you just..?_

After realizing the not-so-subtle innuendo of the way she mentioned the different meanings of _bowls,_ she blushed frantically and shook her hand, "N-no, what I mean, Sasuke-"

And there it was-that unbelievably charming smile. He glanced at her as he chuckled as he thought to himself something she didn't know.

"S-so, when I was young," she hurried explained herself, "I-I had a bowl hair cut."

His eyes widened in surprise, "Really?" His low voice carried a tinge of doubt. It was hard for him to imagine Hinata without her waterfall of a hair.

She smiled at him warmly as she watched his expression of surprise. To know that the stoic, impassive Sasuke who wouldn't blink at the sight of hundreds of marauding assassins out to get him, to be surprised by such a small, simple fact that she used to sport a bowl cut. "Yes, when I was little...my teacher didn't know what to do with my hair when I was ten. So he put a bowl over my head and snipped away." She made scissor signs with her fingers and mimed snipping away the circumference of her head.

Stunned, he stared at her, not knowing what to say. She giggled at his expression, "He was quite a quirky teacher. He would call me affectionately as 'little poo.'"

He watched her cutting through her pork cutlet. She noticed him watching her and asked, "Sasuke?" She narrowed her eyes at him, "Is-is the food that bad?" She was starting to feel horrible about how this was going. First, she paraded him around a disturbing street full of plastic surgery hospitals and now she took him to this restaurant. She hoped he wouldn't get upset for this rather awful date-that-wasn't-quite-a-date. So far she was doing a terrible job looking like the 'mature, experienced, older woman' Hanabi chimed about.

"No," he kept looking at her, his next words surprising her with unexpectedness, "it's just...it's the first time you ever really told me about your past."

"Ah..." Not knowing what to say, she bowed her head and went over her food.

Her light lilac eyes suddenly looked somewhat saddened and thoughtful, but he chose to just file the look at the back of his mind. He'll just have to respect that she might want to hold on to her past life that didn't involve him.

As expected, Sasuke wasn't over-enthusiastic about the food but he emptied his plate. It was Hinata who just couldn't finish the food that she could honestly cook better. He slipped her the cornbread that was the only thing she liked. Then they left the diner.

Feeling bad about her failure to take him anywhere nice, she tentatively asked with an innocent and nonchalant smile, "Sh-should we go to the Orchard a-and...have tea?"

At her suggestion, he looked down at her, his piercing eyes gauging her intentions. Hinata soon realized that Sasuke _might_ be aware of the romantic implications of an unrelated man and a woman spending the evening in 'that' specific area of the village. She fidgeted, wondering if he was _that_ aware of the fact that she was asking him for something more intimate and sappy. After some deliberation, he plainly said "okay," as he still stared down at her with calculating guardedness.

Feeling oddly relieved and excited, she took Sasuke to a much more familiar corner-the area behind Konoha's civic center. That area known as the "Orchard" is known for its dainty lines of beautiful, overpriced cafes and bars. It was also commonly known as the number one place to go out on a date.

Once she saw the pretty pixie lights decorated cafes and lush cherry blossom trees that looked silvery under the moon, she sighed in relief. Finally, somewhere that looked sweet and romantic. She didn't want to give Sasuke the wrong impression that she was doing this unwillingly but didn't want to go overboard. Courting was a weird dance. She silently respected anyone who successfully impressed their first dates.

Then she saw a chalkboard post that directed to a nearby tea shop that was actually a tree house. Ecstatic over the sight of a tree house cafe perched on a tree, she pointed to the cafe and tugged on the sleeve of his grey t shirt. He just nodded and followed her.

Once she saw the menu, her light lilac eyes were alit with excitement. She exclaimed, "Oh, white rose tea! Sasuke, they have white rose tea! I got to have some white rose tea!" Out of excitement, she didn't notice that she was repeating 'white rose tea' again and again.

He groaned and she snapped her attention to him. His smile made his narrowed dark eyes that gazed down at her look whimsical, "Of course you do..." She frowned at him as she noticed that he was teasing her and huffed indignantly and went back to ordering the tea.

In her opinion, the time at the restaurant and cafe went too fast.

When they stood at the doorstep to the Uchiha mansion, she started fidgeting nervously.

"If-if you don't mind, umm...can we-" She really hoped he can give her another chance to impress him with her nonexistent guiding skills.

He declared "We're going out tomorrow. At seven."

When he saw her surprised face, he stated in a demanding tone, "Make it up to me. For touring me around cosmetic clinics."

A splash of pink dusted her cheeks as she nodded vigorously, "I-I will. We should meet at the main street first and decide from there." When he turned around and started walking away from their home, she called, "W-wait, Sa-Sasuke, where are you going?"

Not looking back at her, he kept walking away, "I'm going to crash at Kakashi's."

"Bu-but doesn't Naruto kun stay there? And don't you guys...umm... fight?"

"See you tomorrow."

* * *

Hinata hugged a pillow close to her face.

"So~~" Hanabi's pale eyes crinkled, "how did it go?" So Hanabi slipped away from the Hyuga compound and slid right into the Uchiha mansion. She sat on the bed next to Hinata who sighed into the pillow she pressed flush to her face.

"It went miserably..." she muttered under her breath. "It was worse than not trying..."

"Nonsense!" Hanabi looked like she was not having it in a million years. "In the book on 'love' that I read,"

Hinata listened, knowing about Hanabi's reference to a self-help guide romantic manual. She just found it endearing that she wanted to help her so much. And logically, if someone wrote a book about courtship, they should know a great deal, wouldn't they?

Hanabi continued, "dating is all about power and control, and you must show who's boss by sweeping dem off your feet."

Then she tucked the taller girl into bed, "Now, you must have your rest before your battle!"

Hinata murmured when she was alone in her room, forced to lie there instead of walking Hanabi home, "Battle..."

Then she turned and giggled quietly to herself and closed her eyelids. At least at this moment, she felt safe. She wasn't scared about Kabuto or Karin coming to get them or Sakura and her beauty and close relationship with Sasuke as a team. All that filled her head was the giddy longing to see him and have his time to herself for tomorrow. She breathed in and out. Everything was going to be okay.

* * *

 _"Hyuuga..."_

 _At the sound of a familiar, gruff masculine voice, Hinata looked around in the dark space._

 _She saw a tall silhouette of a man outlined with golden light from the silvery horizon. He told her, "You forgot about me, Hyuuga."_

 _"No," she shook her head, "No, I haven't!" She ran towards him, but he disappeared as soon as she grasped his arm._

 _But she froze as soon as she heard the booming voice, "Then why won't you call my name?"_

 _Her lips quivered. Because she knew why. Because everything that she loved and sought to protect will be gone by that single act._

 _The sound of thumping heart rang in her ear as she heard him call for her, "Conjure me..." The voice echoed at the end, searing her chest._

 _Tears formed at her eyes as she cried out, "Where are you?!" Her voice kept echoing in the darkness._

 _Suddenly a man's hand emerged in the thin air and tore through her heart, "Right here!"_

 _The nine tails broke through her chest, and once she saw the red eyes of the demon fox, she screamed._

That was how she woke up from her bed, wide eyed, panting. What she thought was blood saturating her chest area was perspiration from night terrors.

"Ha...ha...ha..." She clutched on her bed covers. Then she grabbed her bangs up in her other hand in distress. The sun was coming.

* * *

Instead of the dobe, Sasuke saw Sai lounging in Kakashi's studio. Sai was lying on the couch, going over his scrolls that he painted for practice.

Sasuke was standing in front of a lengthy mirror that hung on a wall, adjusting his silver metal watch over his wrist. Sai was looking at him with moderate interest. As an artist _and_ a straight man, he deemed that it was a look that was designed to seduce. It seemed his cold teammate had someone he needed to impress.

"Are you seeing someone?" Sai asked the so-called 'ice breaker' question that Kakashi claims works every time.

Sasuke's long pale fingers that wrapped around his heavy metal watch stilled. It was a miracle that he was answering instead of scrunching up his face in distaste . "A...friend," he answered as he looked down at his wrist, trying to adjust the silver watch so it's not too tight or loose.

"Is it a boy?"

After he was done with the watch, he looked at his reflection with calm scrutiny, "No."

Sai smiled, albeit slightly unnaturally, "Hehe...are you nervous?"

He couldn't help the slight tug on the end of his pale, shapely lips as he quietly admitted "A little."

"Huh?" Sai jerked his face up. He never saw his angsty, and by default grumpy teammate look so...content.

When Sasuke put on a pair of dark loafers on his way out, he murmured, "Wish me luck," and left behind a dumbfounded Sai.

* * *

In the evening after he came from ichiraku ramen shop, Naruto spotted a woman with long midnight hair in the street.

He raised his hand and smiled brightly, "Hinata chan!" Somehow the evening in the cherry blossom festival where they played games made him feel closer to Sasuke's legal guardian. She was fun to hang out with, and he felt like he was at the rightful place to go up to her and say 'hi' when he knew her better as a person. She was like family to him, since Sasuke was his unrelated brother and she was his doting sister.

He rushed to her, but he stopped when Hinata, the woman who would always smile at him and invite him for lunch and dinner, froze and looked at him with eyes full of fear. But it was not simply fear toward one of the rowdiest ninjas who used to be slandered as 'cursed' for some unknown reason. Her milky white eyes looked tortured as she saw him try to get closer to her.

Naruto stopped in his track, looking uncertain and lost at her weird response, "Hina chan..." He took further steps toward her. If he took more steps and reached out his hand, she was close enough to grab. _Maybe she's ill._ He thought.

But it was her who stepped back. She reached out her pale hand, stopping him.

With unshed tears, she looked at him straight in the eye. Again with those tortured milk white eyes with lavender shadows.

"I'm sorry," her voice was trying to not shake under the burden he had no way to understand.

As she locked her defenses around herself, she stepped further back. Her words were carried by the wind, "I..."

Finally, she broke into a pained smile, but the sudden movement of her facial muscles caused her eyelids to release water, "I can't save you."

Naruto's blue eyes widened as he stared back. His dark pupil rimmed with bright blue irises showed a faint tremor. She bit her lip hurt as she saw the look on his face.

Then she turned and left as if she was running away from him.

* * *

Hinata groaned as she hurried her steps to the meeting place, the junction that they would meet to shop for groceries at the main street.

She was late. The nightmare has kept her so exhausted and agitated at the same time that she fumbled through her outfit and make up choices more than usual. And seeing Naruto on the way, she purposely took a detour to avoid encountering him. But of course, they stumbled onto each other again. To see him after such a dream, she wondered if it was an omen. She shook her head, telling herself, _Everything is going to be alright. This was not just for my selfish desire for happiness. This was for the current Naruto as well. I didn't do anything wrong._ She clenched her eyelids shut.

If anyone found out about the secrets she's keeping to continue living out her happiness...just thinking about it made her tremble in fear. She tried hard, but she just can't dispel the sense of her past coming to grab her and drag her back to her nightmares.

Shaking her head vehemently, she charged toward the exact spot she knew Sasuke was waiting for her. She saw black spiky hair by the bright red pole that stood at the junction. His height and unusual hair style made it easy for her to detect him in the crowd, but when people around him dispersed, he lifted his eyes to her from his watch after sensing her presence. Once she saw his eyes that pierced her as he slowly raised his head and straightened his shoulders, her heart stopped.

The look on his eyes was fierce but instead of cowering, she found herself squirming underneath his blatant stare. His lips that would usually shut in a line or curve at the end opened ever so slightly. She suddenly became self-conscious of her lacy, sleeveless, purple dress, and she hid her fidgeting hands behind her back and timidly made eye contact.

He was wearing a black bohemian style jumpsuit with T shirt length sleeves and a deep V neck. The V neck line of the black outfit highlighted the pale marble of his collarbone and surrounding area. Around his waist was the black string of the jumpsuit that was tied together in a knot. The loose but formfitting black trousers were tapered at the ankles. It was a rather androgynous looking outfit that not many straight men would feel comfortable pulling out. But the result was breathtaking-he looked relaxed but sensual.

But what captivated her was his stare. For a moment, he kept staring at her as if she was the biggest threat to his existence. She wondered, _Is he mad that I came too late?_ But the way he stiffened as he glowered at her told her that he wasn't that emotionally moved by such reason. The normal Sasuke would turn his face away in snippy disdain if she is tardy and give her a smart remark, so she was fairly confident that he wasn't _mad._

When she called his name, "Sasuke," the spell broke, and the mask of cool indifference returned to his face. He buried his hands deep into his jumper pockets by the side of his hips and walked up to her.

When he stared down at her, she quickly averted her eyes to the side, "Ah, hi, Sasuke. ha,ha..." An eyebrow rose at her unusual behavior.

As they walked in the main street, she made a triumphant smile, "You'll absolutely love this spot I found out about in advance! It's a park known for its cherry blossoms!"

She was so excited to direct him to this new spot. Nothing could go wrong with her choice this time. Because in truth, nothing can beat large, flourishing cherry blossom trees and cobble stone paths that allow people to romantically amble in quietness. A night time stroll in the park would be suitable because they both liked and appreciated quietness.

She and Sasuke even got two cans of beer in a brown bag so they could further enjoy their moonlit walk. Sasuke held the brown bag with two cans in his single arm.

Tears were swimming in her light lavender eyes that widened in shock, "I...I didn't know." She stared at their destination, denying the bare truth that mocked her.

Sasuke merely surveyed the sight before them and made a noncommittal hum.

The cherry blossom festival was long over and now the main street was undergoing a massive construction. Brownish copper and rusty silver plates of undulating metal stood like barricades everywhere, concealing the blooming cherry trees from view.

Despite Hinata's clear disappointment, Sasuke suggested that they go in further the park, even if the innermost area of the park had no cherry blossoms.

She wondered if going to the park would be any fun for Sasuke if there aren't cherry trees to light up the atmosphere. In the end, she agreed.

She spotted a public restroom and told him, "I need to use the restroom." He nodded and decided to stay around as he waited for her.

After she was done and came out, her eyes widened to see something slightly bizarre.

Sasuke was leaning his back casually on a slightly slanted pine tree. That was nothing odd about that, but he was resting his right elbow on the trunk while staring at her from the side. The look on his face was calm but alert at the same time, as he watched her. The finishing touch was his left hand that stopped raking through his dark spikes. She could clearly tell that he was showing off in that 'I woke up like this' way that was presumably all the hype among the young people. And frankly, she can't hate or blame him for being such a show off. He was way too transparent to the point of looking adorable in her eyes. And his blessed looks helped him not look as ludicrous as he ought to be. If it wasn't for her 'grandma-ish' worry that he might get a back ache, she would have marveled at him like his multitude of admirers.

She asked him an innocent question, "Are you posing on the pine tree, Sasuke?" But she can't hide her amusement.

Still staring at her with calm watchfulness, he replied without hesitation, "Yes." Then he kept staring at her, asking her telepathically, 'is it working?' She hid her amused smile behind her hand. Deeming it not effective enough, he lifted himself from that pose and kept walking to the depths of the park as if nothing happened.

'What an interesting man,' Hinata thought as she followed him. 'He certainly has an odd way of flirting.'

Then he stopped. He pointed to the pitch darkness of the park that didn't have an official looking stone path or street lanterns. "I really want to go over there."

Hinata felt blood draining from her face. "No, pl-please...It's dark and..." And she wasn't fond of walking on the unpaved grass area. What if the park ranger caught them stomping over the grass? What if someone dangerous comes out? It was more of the fear of the unknown that was making her clutch to Sasuke in desperation.

But Sasuke went right ahead into the dark, and Hinata quickly followed him, their arms nearly brushing against each other.

When he felt her arm pressed against his, he suddenly slowed his pace. Almost too immediately to look coincidental. Hinata narrowed her eyes in suspicion and distrust, but he continued to act as if nothing was out of ordinary, confusing her.

When they reached the pitch black darkness, Hinata didn't realize that she was voluntarily huddling close to Sasuke. She was even linking her arm around his, in fear that he'll get annoyed and snap his arm away and tell her to walk on her own. Right now she didn't cared about looking pathetic. This was definitely not her idea of how a date should go!

Meanwhile, Sasuke had a subtle look of amusement on his face, as he saw Hinata clinging to him while trying to not get too close as to make it obvious that she was scared. It seemed that his plan to put Hinata in a frightening situation where feelings and symptoms of fear (e.g. pounding heart, need for physical contact and reassurance) get confused as feelings of attraction, was successful. He looked down at her with a smirk, satisfied with the result of his ploy. Now she was really going to like him.

Oblivious to his ridiculous tactic, Hinata inwardly screamed, 'Please get me out of here!'

Fearful and petrified of the dark and the sound of crunching debris underneath their feet, Hinata turned to Sasuke and buried her face into his chest.

Hushing the sound of his own breath, he fully stopped and stared down at her as she cuddled into him.

Finally, they saw a stone bench that was slightly lit by a nearby street lantern. There, they shared their cans of beer.

When they finished their drink, that was when Hinata started staring at Sasuke. Her light lavender eyes were so beady and shiny that it reminded him of a rabbit's.

She kept staring at him, as if waiting for something. When it didn't come, she turned her face away and sighed. He inwardly smiled. He took it the way he wanted it to be.

When she looked back at him, her eyes widened to see how close his face was to hers. Only the slight flare on his cheekbones indicated that he had a drink. His skin was so translucent that if his body temperature rises, it shows immediately with a color pink that dusted his cheeks.

His lips gently ghosted over hers like a passing feather, and he turned away his face in fear that she'll say 'no.' When he carefully glanced back, he was surprised to see her eyes still closed and lips pursed in together in impatience. Smiling, he came back, brushing her lips with his and then pressed firmly, making it impossible for either to deny that they were sharing a kiss. Just a simple lip to lip, but when she pulled back, she gently collapsed in his arms, her lips burying onto Sasuke's left shoulder in shyness and the sweet feeling of fulfillment. She sighed in contentment next to his ear as she nestled her chin on his upper arm.

When he heard her sweet, audible sigh, he lifted his hand to her soft combed hair and stroked the back of her head with his fingers without ruining her hair. When his fingers caressed over the bright red jewel of her kanzashi, he tilted his face towards her and pressed his warm lips on her ear.

When she felt the first kiss on her ear, she started. Then she felt more wet, warm kisses on her ear and she gasped, "Sa-Sasuke, too bold..."

"No, it's not," he frowned and continued his series of moist sounding kisses on various parts of her ear.

She let out a long, drawn out sigh that sounded both distressed and longing.

Things didn't always go out as they would want it to be, but all in all, they were content.


	26. Chapter 26

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

AN: Aww no...of course, when I wanted to draw on my tablet, I had to lose my stencil lighting adapter ; w ;

So just a caveat, I don't hate Sakura at all. But sadly for the sake of the story flow, there's gonna be quite some Sakura bashing. Also other female characters bashing(cries*). My heart breaks. I'm so sorry TT TT

* * *

It was raining all day. Sounds of clapping thunder erupted occasionally in the distance. Sitting on the wooden porch, Sasuke lifted his face to look at the water that accumulated into heavy droplets at the edge of the roof overhang. He can hear the sound of water running downward from the slanted traditional roof tiles. Instead of kusanagi or a kunai, a silver needle and a shirt were in his rough, pale hands. He was sitting comfortably with his left leg bent in an outward angle and foot planted by the side of his inner right thigh. A pin cushion and a box of thread rested on the porch next to him. On his lap was an another article that needed mending. Sounds of rain falling on the tiles above him echoed, clear and pristine. After looking at the accumulated rain drops that took their time to fall from the overhanging, he bowed his head and stared down at his threadwork. His spine curved slightly like a cat's as his long, coarse fingers fumbled around with the shirt. His dark eyes fluttered as he absorbed how much he has to do to repair the damage to the fabric of his armor.

The pad of his right thumb pushed the butt of the needle into the fabric as his left fingers deftly pulled the needle out from the other side. Almost in a gentle manner. His thick black hair caressed his cheek as they fell by the side of his chin.

Next to him, Hinata was standing on the porch, her hands hidden behind her back as if she was hiding something. She looked at the grey sky that accentuated the green trees and the drops of rain that formed puddles at the main courtyard. Then she looked down at her young master and dare she say it, lover. There was not much difference to their lives after they accepted the different label of their relationship. Except for one big difference and that Sasuke was far less restless and pent up than before.

It was not known to many but Sasuke was actually a good tailor. What started as stitching in a lost button developed into detailed needlework that came as a surprise to Hinata who can barely loop a thread through the needle despite her byakugan. His steady hands delivered simplicity and artless precision to his work not unlike the way he wields his sword. Since he was with Hinata at the age of thirteen, he shared the household labor by mending damaged articles and occasionally sewing in something special if she asked for it.

His dark eyebrows knitted together in focus as he absorbed how much he has accomplished to repair the damage done to his armor. He flipped the sleeve inside and out, checking to see if he accidentally left out any detail and pursed his lips together when he concluded he was done.

When she saw him folding his completed threadwork to his side and turning his attention to the next patient on his lap, she gently smiled. It really shouldn't surprise her that Sasuke liked needlework due to his love of detail and isolated, quiet work, but it still does.

She knelt beside him and spoke up quietly, "Sasuke."

Her soft voice caught his attention and he turned towards her and stared at her blankly.

He merely looked at her, and that was his way of asking her what she wanted. His calm, weighty mannerism struck her as resembling a beast, like a panther or a wolf.

Her hands then shyly delivered a pair of pale pink ballerina flats that were on the worn side.

Her cheeks turned red and her light colored eyes darted here and there in visible embarrassment, "The soles fell off, so I tri-tried to stitch it back but...it seems that I am making it worse."

He looked down at her ballerina flats in calm scrutiny and took them with both hands. He stared down at them as he slouched forward again comfortably. The soles were in bad shape due to overt wear, but nothing serious, he thought.

His dark eyes still pinned at the pale flats that looked almost tiny in his rough, pale hands. Then he nodded and pulled out another needle from the pin cushion and rummaged his box for a fitting thread.

When he was turning away from her in his effort to look for the right thread, he felt a quick peck on his cheek and froze. Then he felt a pressed nudge against his right shoulder. When he looked back, he saw her resting her forehead on his shoulder and her tiny hand grabbing the edge of his sleeve. Her eyes were downcast, and he saw a sweet, bashful smile drawn across her lips.

As if he got an idea, he went back to rummaging for the right thread for the shoes. Then he pulled a black roll of thread.

He looked at her seriously, "Do that again."

She looked at the black thread in his hand and pouted, "Sasuke, that's black. It won't look good with the shoes' color."

He eyed her quietly, "Do that again."

She stared at him with momentary surprise. Then she quietly pressed her lips against his soft cheek. Her kiss was gentle but deliberate. She then slowly distanced herself but kept her eyes on him, studying his face.

He then placed the black thread back into his box and fished out a white thread roll.

As he started his work on her left shoe, he stated, "I'll keep that in mind before I fix the other one."

She nodded, "Yes," and rested the side of her head to his right shoulder, staring at the rain forming tiny rings of water on the ground. His shoulder was strong and warm and comforting. Her eyes took in the sight of snapped necks of tulips that has grown over spring.

Suddenly rain started to come in a downpour, and they were forced to leave the porch and go inside.

All night they listened to the deep rumble of thunder and the clapping sounds of rain falling on the ground beyond the window. The sound of thunder came in waves and occasionally the night will blink in the light of illuminative lavender. The sound alone almost transported the listeners to a space where they were cutting through billowing volumes of air like a flying jet, so loud was the sound. The rippling sound of thunder tore the air bit by bit, disintegrating the clouds. Then the clear downpour of rain that hit the glass pane. It was so dark that it was impossible to see the rain drops forming deep puddles on the ground. Only the blinking light of the thunderstorm above can show the rapidly forming rings of water. Small eddies formed on the soil. The sound of water tapping and pitter-paddng on the window filled the household, banishing the need to speak or utter a word from the thoughts of its inhabitants. The sound of trickling was coming from somewhere, bubbling, echoing, flowing.

But for Hinata, nothing was louder than the sound of curses coming from deep within.

The Kurama whom she struggled to banish to the depths of her mind would scream how she still belonged to Uzumaki, heart and soul. In all his fiery glory, the gold fox would condemn her beyond the bars she locked him in- _I allowed you to serve the Uchiha only because he was the one to 'wake' you. And now you give your heart to him and decide to wholeheartedly forget Uzumaki? Uzumaki was the one to give you new meaning to your existence. When all Uchiha did was to plot your demise for his selfish agenda, all your twin jinchuriki wanted was to give you life and power. But this is how you repay him?_

On her bed, she writhed and cried, "No, leave me alone." The monster grinned, baring its dark gums. 'How lucky,' the sly demon thought. 'Previously, I couldn't get my voice to her through my seal. But now that guilt is eating at her, she has no way to block out my voice!' After Uchiha sealed him away when Hyuuga was sustained in the pearl, Kurama had no way to voice its angry protests against his indigo haired jinchuriki. Even Kurama can't have power over its host if she doesn't allow him such power. But now, Hyuuga was vulnerable. Her guilt of loving a man who killed her past master gave free rein to the remorseless beast.

 _Silly girl,_ the fox demon cooed, _it is a matter of time you unleash me and Uzumaki returns to his true self. You deny him his power, his lineage, and look at him, an ignorant village boy destined for mediocrity because of your selfish reasons._

"No," she shook her head, "Naruto kun said he was happy. He said he was happy the way he was. Happy to be a ninja of Konohakagure. He'll be hokage someday!"

The monster scoffed. _The boy's happy in his ignorance. And you're letting him dwell in his ignorance._

She shook her head and challenged the monster, "He wasn't happy as a Waker. He was miserable. He always missed Konoha."

 _You speak as if you're letting him wallow in his cluelessness for his sake. So why don't you conjure him and ask him for yourself? If it's okay for him to sit back and watch his Waker's Pearl serve the one who murdered him in cold blood?_

She froze. Kurama cackled. _You can't, because you're afraid. Because you know that you've given Uzumaki the ultimate betrayal._

This went on and on since her budding happiness with Sasuke. She just couldn't sleep. Almost every night, she dreamt of the nine tailed monster coming to exact its vengeance in the vulnerability of her slumber. And reproachful blue eyes. She would half wake up, sobbing, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. Please don't...hurt him."

The seven tail sneered, showing no mercy. _Even now, you still worry about Uchiha's life. If you weren't the key to retrieving my vessel, I would've enjoyed suffocating the life out of you. But one day, you will become 'Hyuuga' again. It is destined._

"No," she cried, "I'm Hinata. Hinata. Not Hyuuga!"

"Hinata!" She heard a familiar voice call her, and she opened her eyes. Sasuke barged into her room, shocked by her desperate cries, and she sobbed in relief in his arms as he did his best to soothe her.

She leaned into his arms and wept, "I'm not Hyuuga. I'm Hinata."

Sasuke buried his lips into her dark hair of the crown of her head, "Yes, you're Hinata." His voice was low, husky, and affirmative. He slightly tightened his arms around her.

She felt tears rolling down her cheek as she buried her nose between his full bosom.

When she calmed down a little bit, Sasuke ventured-"Hinata, it's getting late, and we both need to sleep."

She looked him up. Then she bowed her head in resignation, "Yes, Sasuke. I'm sorry for bothering you." She knew he had just returned from an important mission past midnight, and he needed to catch up on some needed sleep.

"Hinata." He called her name, and she looked up at him in question.

His dark eyes stared into her lavender ones, "If" he paused, looking uncertain, "you're still feeling uneasy about nightmares..." He finally bit the bullet, "Do you want me to sleep with you?"

Her eyes widened. He held out his hand and carefully sorted her unruly strands of black hair with his fingers, "We're only going to sleep." His dark eyes flitted slightly as he separated some hair that stuck to her moist cheeks. Her cheeks burned at his words, and he can feel the heat transmitting to his cool fingertips.

She looked up at Sasuke's face. For a moment, she thought about it and nodded. He was a man of his word.

She scooched over to the end of her bed to give him some space on the mattress. It took several attempts for him to adjust to a relatively comfortable position on her twin bed. Then finally he lied on his side facing Hinata, resting his head on his bicep as his lean torso twisted a little uncomfortably. He had to bend his long legs, bumping into Hinata's legs. Soon, Sasuke fell into deep sleep. Hinata watched how his stern dark brows relaxed over his closed eyelids, and his lips slightly opened like a kid. She waved her hand over his features at first, checking if he was really sound asleep. Then she carefully leaned forward and kissed him. After her light kiss, she giggled as she looked at him continue to sleep with the same innocent, boyish expression. His nose crinkled slightly as his lips pursed and then opened slightly again. She looked down at him lovingly. How funny was it that she was the one to breach the 'just sleep' rule. It made her feel naughty.

She whispered with a sweet smile on her face, "No matter what happens...I'll keep you safe, Sasuke."

Sasuke smiled slightly in his sleep as if he understood what she said.

The coming morning Sasuke and Hinata spent their day as usual. Hinata cooked and meal-prepped. Sasuke washed the dishes, and they went grocery shopping. They trained. And read. But Sasuke noticed how Hinata was trying to be overly cheerful. It didn't sit well with him. He sensed that she was hiding something.

"Sasuke," he looked at her sitting on the porch. He was sweeping the main courtyard. She was holding a wide box that she enwrapped in a purple silken wrap, a traditional way of delivering a gift to someone of high status.

She put on her shoes, "there is something important we must both attend this afternoon. I'm going to Hanabi and Neji sama to borrow some needed outfit to visit the hokage sama."

He looked at her, holding his straw broom as he studied her. He idly wondered what she was up to this time, "Should I wear something formal as well?"

She held out her hand, "No, Sasuke, you don't need to. Your genin uniform should do." She looked up to him as she prepared to walk out, "I'll see you in half an hour."

He nodded. He rested his broom by the side of their main deck and went in to take a shower.

When he waited for her in front of the Hyuuga's gate, he saw her exit the wooden door gracefully. Her dark blue hair was into a traditional updo, and his kanzashi was inserted sideways in the orthodox style. What was most astonishing was her regal yellow kimono with a subtle golden sheen and the patterns of dragons across her garb. Her little pale hands carefully balanced the gift that she brought with her to give to the hokage. It seemed that she was aiming to look serious.

His eyes widened as he took in the sight. Now he felt severely underdressed, in his white collar t shirt and usual dark maroon pants wrapped with a thickly braided light purple obi.

He looked down at her, "Are you about to get married?" He frowned, not too happy about how he has no idea what she was up to. He just hoped that she wasn't trying to impress Hatake when they get to the hokage tower. Kakashi was already acting too leery to be on Sasuke's good side.

She looked up at him and smiled, "No, Sasuke." She beamed as she felt her heart swell at his words. Then she stared straight ahead at the street before them and assumed a serious tone, "We're visiting the hokage to...revoke our adoption papers."

His eyebrows shot up in surprise as he looked down at Hinata. Because that means he and Hinata are going to be officially unrelated. Was she really going to sever the tie that he was never happy to begin with?

She looked up at him once again and bowed her head, her sleeve rising to hide her mouth as she blushed, "I-I didn't want to give an impression that this is a flippant decision, so...what can I say, I overdressed...a bit."

Sasuke groaned. This girl. He swung an arm around her neck and tugged her to his chest and breathed in the scent of her hair. His eyes gleamed as he took in the red stone of her kanzashi. She wanted to show the Konohans that she was serious in every way. She didn't want to be his adoptive guardian or sister figure anymore.

Her breath seemed knocked out of her when he suddenly crushed her in his embrace, her sandal clad feet rose in tip toes to catch up to his height. When he placed his hands on her shoulder and stepped back a little, she saw him bowing his head slightly to prevent her from seeing his eyes. A slight dust of pink suffused over his cheeks and the ridge of his nose. She saw his pale lips that were neither too thick nor too thin crinkled as if he was holding in something he wanted to say in the moment.

And they walked side by side. Because she was holding the gift box respectfully with two hands, he couldn't hold her hand as he would prefer. When he happened to steal a glance at her, she would look back at him and smile brightly with love in her eyes. Then he couldn't help his mouth twisting into a smirk.

"You should've told me," he stroked the front of his shirt, "compared to you, I'm slovenly."

Hinata giggled, "You don't need to worry of that." Because Sasuke was undeniably breathtaking in himself. 'No need to attract further attention,' Hinata thought as she gazed up at his gorgeous profile.

Maybe because they were too absorbed by their own world, they were a beat too late in noticing an egg that was thrown in Hinata's direction.

 _Crack_ -

And it was raw.

* * *

"Sasuke kun, your arm!"

Sakura paled as she saw the purple bruise that held a greenish tint on the part of his arm that wasn't concealed by his t shirt sleeve. Around his t shirt and arm were splattered bits of white egg shells and dried up sticky yoke that looked disgusting despite being largely harmless.

Sasuke couldn't keep the scowl from his face as he and Hinata accidentally bumped into his Team 7 teammate in the corridor to the hokage office. He understood that she deeply cared about him, but it didn't mean she had to fuss so much about such injury and side-step Hinata in favor of his attention. He also questioned what is it she might be doing at this part of the hokage tower. He knew the emergency care infirmary in the hokage tower was ground level, and nobody as medically skilled as Sakura should be spending too much time in the tower, especially if it is not around the infirmary. If, she was pursuing his whereabouts for unnecessary reasons, he really didn't feel like indulging her.

She reached out towards his injured arm, "Please let me take a look, Sasuke kun."

He bluntly replied, "No." He meant it. Not when Sakura refused to notice the crackled shards of egg shells that were all over Hinata's hair and shoulder and asked her if she was okay. Even if he and Hinata weren't in a relationship, he'd much rather prefer Sakura to make her favoritism less obvious and start noticing other people. A lot of times, Sakura's glaring favoritism would create some uncomfortable situations, even when it's just him, Sakura, and Naruto.

She protested, "You'll get a bruise!"

He stared at her evenly. "I'm fine."

Sakura's eyes showed that she was hurt at how he could put up such walls of ice around him.

"The egg might be poisoned or something. You might get an infection."

At Sakura's words 'poison' and 'infection,' Hinata's face paled. She gently touched Sasuke's gripped fist, her touch ghosting over the back of his hand. He snapped his cold gaze to her, and his eyes softened in a way that was barely noticeable.

"Sakura chan is right. We're still early for the hokage's appointment."

"Hn" Sasuke grunted before grabbing Hinata's hand in his and later intertwining his fingers with hers, much to Sakura's surprise. Sakura quickly spun and led them in haste to the infirmary. She kept her eyes pinned straight ahead as she was struggling to keep the sour look away from her face.

In the infirmary, Sakura made him take a seat in front of her chair. Her careful hand picked up a tweezer and plucked a white fluffy cotton ball from one of the glass jars. "How did this happen?"

After a momentary hesitation, Hinata started speaking "Someone...threw eggs at...me."

Sakura's head jerked up and she stared at him, wide eyed in disbelief"So Sasuke, you got the blow instead of Hinata?"

Sakura's green eyes settled on Hinata momentarily before flitting to Sasuke again with tenderness.

Hinata couldn't forget that look on her face. She bowed her head and started clutching the purple silk wrapped box closer to her chest. She suddenly felt ashamed of her elaborate dress up for no reason.

He could barely contain his sneer. An immediate tension fell between all of them.

"Ugh, stupid girls," Tsunade suddenly appeared out of nowhere and clucked her tongue as she saw the red bruise on Sasuke's left arm, "when will they ever learn?" As Tsunade delegated her responsibilities as hokage to Kakashi, she spent most of her time commuting between the hokage tower's infirmary and the medical center. Sakura was still Tsunade's apprentice.

Sakura didn't say anything as she poured her green glowing chakra that slowly erased the sign of the bruise on his arm. Hinata's eyes narrowed slightly in pain as she saw Sakura's pale, healing fingers drift over Sasuke's muscled arm. Her small fist clenched. Seeing Sakura's pale, slender fingers graze over his skin made her eyes twitch and lips purse. Hinata quickly chastised herself, _this isn't the right time to feel jealousy_. Sasuke got hurt and egged in public because of her. She shouldn't be so upset that Sakura thought it was her fault. Because...it kinda was.

The sense of guilt that Sasuke got hurt because of her started to bother her. Even though Sasuke assured her it was nothing serious, Hinata felt strangely on edge and uncomfortable. Maybe if she was stronger...

* * *

Seeing Kakashi in the white cape and shrouded cap that symbolizes the hokage's authority suddenly reminded Sasuke and Hinata of the fact that he was now the most powerful ninja in Konohakagure.

Kakashi was working on his grey laptop, and he raised his eye to see the dark haired couple entering his office.

"Oh," Kakashi looked down at the screen of his laptop again, "Do come in. I was just wrapping up."

Hinata bowed deeply. Her long lashed eyes lowered respectfully as she held her box. Sasuke merely grunted, _Show off_. He was sure Kakashi was indulging in one of his eroge books and just started pretending to be busy once he felt their chakra.

When they took a seat before them, Kakashi asked "So Hinata san, I believe you brought your legal stamp and needed documents like your application?"

"Yes, hokage sama." Hinata started unwrapping her silk wrapped box, untangling the knot that held the fabric together. When she fully unfurled the purple wrap, Kakashi and Sasuke saw the clipped documents lying on the dark wooden box.

She held out the documents with both hands to Kakashi. He took the papers and flipped through them and nodded.

Then he pulled out his metallic drawer from underneath his desk and pulled out a yellow paper folder.

After checking off some clauses on his paper, he looked at Hinata and Sasuke.

"I would like the proof of your oath with your blood."

Hinata and Sasuke solemnly nodded. When Kakashi handed each a kunai, they enwrapped their fingers around the silver blade and pulled the kunai out with a quick swipe. A scroll flew toward their direction, and Hinata dropped her blood first and then Sasuke.

When the scroll flew back to Kakashi, it snapped close and Kakashi grabbed it and placed it back to his file organizer.

"So, now we got the adoption paper covered. Now you Hinata san and Sasuke are unrelated in the eyes of law. So now..."

Kakashi started rubbing his hands together, "Now we should talk about the property rights to the Uchiha mansion."

Sasuke's eyes widened by a fraction, but the midnight blue haired lady next to him looked calm.

"Hokage sama, regarding the property rights," Hinata glanced at Sasuke, "I would like to rewrite the property claim under Sasuke's name."

Both Kakashi and Sasuke's eyebrows shot up in surprise.

She raised her hands to her lips and smiled, "It's just...Sasuke's now an adult, and...I would like to see how he manages his own property."

When Kakashi and then later Sasuke blinked their eyes, she blushed and waved her hands, "Of-of course, I have no doubt about Sasuke's responsibility! It's just..." she paused and covered her eyes with both hands, "I wo-would...like to help him be more independent." She started stammering, "I-I have no-no debt or bad credit and the-there's just a few months' worth of mortgage left, bu-but I am willing to help him."

Kakashi raised his flattened palm to his masked lips, "So that's your _thing,_ Hinata sama. If I had known-"

Suddenly Sasuke's eyes glowed into an eerie red color as he glared with all the killing intent he can muster in a second.

"Okay, so it is," the hokage dropped it in a second and started crossing lines across the property claim on his paper.

"Here, I'll need your signatures or stamp marks," he handed the paper to them.

Sasuke rose and snatched away the paper and placed it on his left lap. He pulled out his small cylindrical wooden stamp from underneath his collar and clicked on the butt of his stamp. The red tip of his stamp propelled, revealing a sliced fan symbol. He remembered how he got his stamp carved with Hinata's suggestion.

After surveying the carving of his stamp, he pressed his customized stamp on his paper. The indention of the stamp marked a split red fan, the upper half was colored red and the bottom silhouette was outlined red.

He never had to use the stamp before, and it gave him an odd sense of pride.

Hinata smiled with fondness as she saw the slightly excited expression on Sasuke's face. Then she pulled out her own stamp from inside her long kimono sleeve and made her own legal mark. She smiled even brighter as she saw the mark of a smiling sunflower with the split fan. She preferred to make her customized stamp casual and light hearted.

Sasuke looked at her smiling down on the paper for a moment and turned his eyes back to the two stamps placed close together.

"Hinata san," Hinata snapped her attention back to Kakashi, "I was wondering...what is that chest you've brought?"

"Oh, ye-yes," she acted as if she didn't know Kakashi was there for a moment. She held out her dark wooden box to Kakashi, "I wanted to show how much we thank you for allowing your time, hokage sama. It's nothing extravagant, but...I hope you like it."

Kakashi reached out his hand and received the box. It was heavier than he expected. When he opened the lid, his eye widened again at the content.

In the box were mini sized fresh and ripe pale peaches with a slight flush of delectable pink.

He smiled at Hinata, "Hinata san, thank you. Peaches are very costly these days. I appreciate it."

And of course the grey haired hokage had to add another remark that stirred the ire of the raven, "They're the color of your cheeks." He waggled his eyebrows that were invisible under the hokage cap, "Both cheeks."

* * *

After they cleared up some paperwork including property rights to the Uchiha mansion, Hinata and a begrudged Sasuke thanked Kakashi and started walking home. Now their house belonged legally under Sasuke's name. But both knew it was their home. As they walked together, Hinata glanced at Sasuke. He looked a little agitated by the way his fingers pressed on her hand at intervals and how he would glance down at her and quickly avert his eyes when she happens to catch them.

"Sasuke."

"What." He was still seething inside even though Hinata happened to stop him in time by closing his chakra points in his right arm. His right arm was flopping lifelessly by his side.

She stroked her fingers across the length of his right arm and unlocked the shut down chakra points. He started to feel life coming back to his arm by slow, tingling sensations. He sighed in relief as he rubbed his wrist.

Hinata smiled, "You...are quite sensitive." She can identify with Kakashi in some aspects. Sasuke was quite fun to tease.

"He doesn't mean any harm. Hokage sama just likes to rile you up every time." She glanced at him with a mischievous glint in her pale eyes.

Sasuke looked down at her, his eyebrows rising in surprise, as he kept rubbing on his banded wrists. She kept giggling discreetly.

"I can't take it anymore." When she heard his raspy utterance, she looked up to him in question.

Suddenly he grabbed both of her shoulders and shoved her to the dark alleyway. Flustered and blushing, she looked sideways as she was caught in his grasp, "Ah-ah, now is not the time to-"

When she tentatively opened one eye, her eyes widened at what she saw. Sasuke was standing in front of her, with his eyes closed in a squint, his face blushing with a soft color of pink. His hands were still grabbing her shoulders. The way he squinted his eyes shut and his lips crinkled reminded Hinata of a child trying to look brave as he got his first shot in the hospital.

She looked up to him, but he kept closing his eyes. His closed eyelids seemed to relax a bit but still remained shut. There was still some tension in his shut lips.

"Sasuke, _daijobu-yo_?"

He still stood upright, his hands over her shoulders. His lips crinkled slightly, and he breathed deeply through his nose. His shoulders fell at his exhale.

"Did something get in your eye? Let me see!" She rose on her tip toes.

"I'm fine." He groaned with his eyes closed. "It's just...Don't look." He looked like he was willing the pink of his face disappear with meditation.

Hinata started to feel anxious. "Why? Are you hurt?" Maybe he overexerted his sharingan? She started feeling the creeping fear that he might turn blind or worse by exhaustion.

But she didn't expect him to say what she heard.

"No, I'm just...really happy."

Then he opened his eyes and two sharingan eyes reflected back at her with their deep carmine light. He looked down at her tenderly.

"I find it embarrassing to be this happy."

"Sasuke…" Now it was her turn to feel the temperature of her face rise and her heart palpitating.

His eyes blinked lazily as he looked down at Hinata. She was slowly becoming entranced by his red eyes framed with dark lashes that gazed at her.

Then he stretched out his hand and his fingers lightly and slowly wrapped around her neck. His palm felt the beating pulse of her soft, creamy neck. Her breath stopped as she observed how he looked like he was about to choke her but he was smiling, his eyes dazed and lips drawn into a smile. She suddenly became aware of how dangerous he was. How for Sasuke, violence and sensuality always came hand in hand. She couldn't understand that side of him logically, but she couldn't help but be helplessly drawn to his dark sexuality. She felt as if she was pulled to a magnetic grove of red roses in the pitch black dark of the night by herself.

He tilted her chin up with the way his fingers single-mindedly but delicately guided her throat. Then he leaned forward for a kiss. Entranced by the way his fingers curled around her neck and his eyes bore into hers, Hinata unconsciously opened her lips and their lips touched in the middle of the afternoon at the shaded alleyway.

When his lips wrapped around hers nicely and he captivated her attention, he withdrew his fingers and they continued talking in their own language.

His lips were warm and soft on hers despite their sculpted, firm impression. Soon slight vapor came between them in the moist, cold air, and Sasuke pressed his lips on hers firmly for one more time before reluctantly drawing back as he felt the icy tips of her hands on his collarbone. When she panted, he kissed inside reddened shell of her ear and told her, "It's getting cold. Let's go home."

* * *

"Sakura chan, are you alright?" a kunoichi who wasn't part of the Rookie 9 stopped Sakura on her track. Sakura looked listless even though she shook her arm.

Tenten crossed her arms, "I heard the news just now. Is Sasuke kun serious? He is going to choose his adoptive sister over you?" After seeing how incest worked in Neji's family, Tenten became obstinately adverse to any kind of incestuous relation, even unrelated ones. Even though she only knew the story from Sakura's side, she cannot help but feel put off by the change in Hinata and Sasuke's relationship.

Ino put her hands on her hips and yelled, "But you said you were going out with him!Explain to us, Sakura!" Because Ino was secretly infuriated by Sakura's declaration of her relationship with Sasuke, she was especially pissed. She spent nights getting drunk crying and now she heard _this._ She vaguely wondered if Sakura was just so full of confidence and bubble gum pink hopes that the thought of them not being together didn't even cross her mind.

Sakura looked at her friends around her. Suddenly she started tearing up.

Ino disentangled her arms in shock, "Sa-Sakura-" Maybe she was being too pushy? But usually Sakura wouldn't be this easy to upset. She must be so heartbroken.

Sakura wiped her flowing tears, "How...could he-how could she do this to me?"

Soon news of Hinata's questionable motives for approaching the raven orphan started to buzz. There were already controversy about the beautiful, mysterious woman who adopted a wayward boy. But news of Sakura's broken heart made her an unequivocal target of the village girls' hate.

"How could she?"

"How could she be an older sister to Sasuke kun and then just push him into a relationship?"

"I bet the sweet sister act was just a ploy to get closer to him."

"She acted all the sweet and angelic but she was just waiting her right time to steal him away."

"And Sakura thought so much of her."

"Yeah, remember how Sakura took care of her when Sasuke kun was gone?"

"Girls like her don't care about loyal friends. They just want the guy."

In the midst of this chaos, Hinata tried to keep her head high.

It didn't take long for Hanabi and Kurenai to figure out who threw the egg at Hinata. It happened to be one of Sasuke's severe fangirls who were already against the idea of the handsome orphan living with the woman. But Hinata asked them to keep it a secret. She didn't have any compassion for the fangirl who would take her obsession to such extremes, hurtling an egg at Sasuke, but she knew that if she confronts her, the girl will not be free from Sasuke's wrath. At least, she doesn't deserve to _die._

She knew this would happen, sooner or later, if she accepts Sasuke. Her fear of being publicly shamed and ostracized as when she was a teenager was one of the reasons that kept her from accepting him. But now she didn't want to give up on what her heart always wanted because of people who don't know the entirety of their story. She told herself, _I'm not afraid._

She looked down at the gravely steps to the Uchiha mansion. She was going to the main street of Konoha to do some grocery shopping, but then she saw on the steps, words marked with red chalk, _whore, thief, freak, bitch, liar._

As she shuffled her feet and tried to wash out the words with her watering can, the red chalk started to bleed.

She murmured, "I'm not afraid..." But she felt the suffocating urge to run fill up her chest. A heavy weight of peoples' hate bore down on her.

Then she heard a familiar gruff voice, "Hey, Hinata!"

She lifted her head to see her blond friend walking up to her, waving his hand.

"Na-Naruto." It was uncanny of how the sunshiny dispositioned ninja always happened to hover around her in midst of trial and danger. Like the night of the cherry blossom festival where she saw Karin and he appeared right out of nowhere. And even now when she just felt like tearing her heart out at the fact that the malicious girls even came close to her door steps.

When he looked down at the words that had yet to be effaced, he froze in shock and stared at her as if blood left his face.

"Hinata..." he stared at how she looked like she was going to cry to the half erased word "bitch" that she was shuffling off with her foot. Then suddenly it occurred to him, everything. He's been there before. He kinda knew. He looked at her, "Are you...okay?"

"A-Ano..." she averted her eyes as her face tensed, "yes..."

Then she crouched over and started sprinkling water again, but the chalk didn't fade so easily.

"Hinata, I know a better way."

When she looked up to him in question, he smiled widely and gestured her to stand aside.

When she did, he suddenly swiped his right foot across the entire foot step that was littered with the red chalk marks.

She felt her dark hair fluttering a bit by the impact of his movement, and when she looked down at the door step, she saw that he swiped the gravelly top off, revealing a clean slate of stone underneath.

When she looked at him in surprise and awe, he raised his two fingers in the shape of a V next to his winking blue eyes.

"No matter how much people suck and try to bring you down, you can always start again fresh, dattebayo Hinata."

She stared at him in surprise. Then she smiled with genuine gratitude in her eyes. But her smile seemed to falter a bit as she looked down at her water can.

Naruto frowned. Not in criticism of Hinata's inability to cheer up but in deep thought as to how to dispel the gloom.

Then a light bulb went on.

"Hey, Hinata. If you're not busy, I have some place to show you," He pointed a thumb's up toward his chest,

"Um, Naruto kun...I...don't really feel like leaving the house." She didn't feel like the leaving the comfort of the house when she can literally feel the slap of peoples' eyes against her face.

When she expected him to give up, he instead gave her a look of deep understanding, "I'll always be by your side, so don't worry."

Hinata froze. She turned to him. Did she just hear him right? "Naruto?"

He grabbed her hand, "Come on! It's a place that was important to both me and Sasuke!"

Her lavender hued eyes widened, and before she can say anything, she found herself moving according to Naruto's directions. Naruto had that magnetism with people, sweeping them off with the current of his outgoing personality that made everything seem not so serious.

Where he took her was a playground near the academy where young ninjas are trained before they move on to more developed levels.

She saw the children running by the monkey bars in the playground while others play soccer in the sandy plains demarcated by strings of rope.

Naruto guided her to a group of large trees that provided shade by the side of the sandy soccer field. Then he stopped by a tree that held a lone swing, just a wooden plank supported by two ropes. There he flopped down on the wooden plank seat, and the metal hinges that connected the plank to the rope squeaked in protest.

"So this is where Sasuke and I spent most of our childhood!"

Then he assumed a more serious tone as he sat slouched on the swing.

"I know, Hinata, that it hurts to have the villagers turn against you like that. I've been there. So let me tell you a little bit of how Sasuke and I went through it. Well, from my perspective."

She nodded,

"Yes, go ahead, Naruto. I would like to hear it."

He smiled. Then he looked down at the sandy ground as he rested his elbows on his knees,

"I never really understood why the villagers hated me so much. I was alone a lot, and it was the worse feeling to be sitting by myself on the swing, wishing that there was someone to approach me and just say anything. I never really wanted to admit that I wanted a friend out loud, but whenever I walked home from school, I would...wish for that."

He made a slightly whimsical expression that was rare on Naruto's ever cheerful face

" But it was such a small, simple thing to want that I never really wanted to admit that it was a wish. Saying that you wished for a friend...it made me feel like a loser. But my attempts to hide it were pretty much useless anyways, and I'm glad I'm bad at hiding what I think. I guess anyone can tell by my face when I just sat here. Iruka sensei told me that."

He looked up at the sky. It was still pretty grey from the days of heavy rainfall. But he looked determined and optimistic.

"But I always told myself that I'll prove them some day. It's just that they can't see what I'm really made of right now. Sasuke always told me that I was just trying to rise to the top because I was desperate to prove myself but-"

Hinata balked, "He-he did? Oh, Naruto..." she slapped her hand against her forehead and shook her head, "I'm so sorry..." She was mortified by Sasuke's brusqueness. Sometimes his lack of filter when it comes to Naruto was too much for her delicate sensibility.

Naruto laughed, "Don't sweat it, Hina, I had it worse from the bastard. And he was right. Until I really learned what it was to sacrifice myself for my friends, I just wanted to be someone who can outshine others. Quite lame, huh?" He made a sheepish grin and glanced at her.

His fingers halted at her word, "No."

She clenched her fists and looked up to him, "If you get hurt so much, there comes a point where you dream of being someone so important that nobody could question you...that everyone is forced to acknowledge you." _Because I've been there._ She told herself.

He looked up at her, his bright blue eyes dilating in a way she has never seen him do. Then he quickly turned his face and blushed, scratching the back of his neck, "Wow, Hinata. You suddenly...looked like a different person right there. Almost made me wonder if you were the same Hinata I've always known."

At his words, she was drawn from the reveries of the Waker's Pearl competition and the spell broke. "Oh, I-I'm sorry, Naruto. Please tell me. What helped you to overcome the villagers' unreasonable hate"

He scratched his whiskered chin with his index finger and deliberated for a bit, "Umm, I...didn't."

"Don't get me wrong, Hina chan. I'm good friends now with the kids who used to bully me, and I get that the villagers' feelings weren't personal. They just didn't like a loud, attention seeking orphan boy causing trouble everywhere. And when I began to show that I was a capable ninja, people began to see me differently. Some began to say 'hi.' Some offered to give me gifts. I don't know why they're girls though."

Hinata smiled at him. His cluelessness looked endearing to her, now that she wasn't so infatuated with him as before in her past.

"But I just want to let you know, Hinata chan. Keep being the awesome person I know you are, and some day people will see you and Sasuke for who you guys really are! It happened with me, so of course, it will turn out like that with you. You're the nicest lady in the village. I was just a little street brat."

She looked down at him fondly, "Thank you, Naruto...for your kind words."

But slowly she felt her heart falling in dejection. She grabbed one of the ropes holding the swing Naruto was on.

"Naruto."

"Yeah?"

"Th-thank you for telling me your story. But..."

She hung her head low, "I used to be in a similar situation as yours. So when I heard your story...I couldn't help but wonder..."

After a long hesitation, she finally asked, "How do you forgive the villagers who treat you well only after your success?" Hinata wanted to be at peace too. At peace with people who condemned her as useless and forced her to internalize their negative beliefs. _How did Naruto do that,_ she wondered

"What," his eyes widened, "do you mean, Hina chan?"

Her eyebrows furrowed at the bitter recollection.

"A long time ago, I used to be bullied as a child. But when I became...'special,' things changed...for the better. But my heart was still in a dark place. When the girls who abused me flipped their attitude upside down...it only made me despise them." She spoke a bit darkly as in anger, Naruto felt he could see her self-loathing in the way she looked down and bit her lip.

Hinata felt a slight tremor in her voice, "How could you be...friends with those who hurt you? Who spoke such vile things of you? How could you treat them as the same as you treat...me, Sakura, or Sasuke?"

Suddenly Naruto raised his voice, "Oh hell no, are you kidding me?" He almost flipped off of his flimsy swing at her words.

"Hinata, I need you to listen." He looked at her, his thick brown eyebrows furrowed over serious blue eyes.

"I don't really think of big, lofty words like 'forgiveness' when I deal with the villagers. I put what they did behind, but hell no, they're not on the same par as my _friends._ There's no way they can compete with you or Sasuke."

He folded his arms over his chest and spoke lightheartedly, "Just because I decide to be good sport with them, it doesn't mean I have to be buddy buddy with them. And it's nothing personal. I've just moved on to better things than striving for popularity."

When he saw Hinata look at him wide eyed, he mussed the back of his blond hair, "Hey, sorry, I think I rambled too much." He grinned, "You wanted to hear about Sasuke, right?"

He turned his gaze to the playground, "For as long as we can remember, Sasuke and I were treated as outcasts. But it's funny how we never really became friends until we were in the same team."

He remembered how they were, him with his goggles over his head and Sasuke in a dark grey t shirt with the collar up to his chin. "I always tried to go up and talk to him and get him to join me in games and pranks, but he was never up for it. But I went on hard. It took years for him to finally even notice my existence. But just a little bit of training under Kakashi for him to hand me a bit of his lunch. Now, even though he swears that he hates me, I know we always got each other's backs."

His eyes narrowed into friendly double crescents as he continued,

"I still remember seeing him turn his back and walk ahead away from the rest of us when we were little. For some reason, I couldn't just ignore him. And I'm glad I didn't! And now he brought you into my life, Hina chan. For that, I'm really happy."

Naruto was expecting his words to cheer her up, but strangely, Hinata didn't say a word.

Until she bowed her head and said,

"Naruto...Please say it again..."

"Uh, what? Did I say something weird?"

"Are you...happy?"

"Yup!" No hesitation.

"Uh, Hinata? Are you crying?" He leaned over as he held both of the ropes of his swing, tugging himself over to her.

When he saw her face from beneath, he balked and stood up from his swing, not knowing what to do, "Uh, crap! Sasuke's gonna kill me. Please don't cry, Hinata. I don't know why me being happy should upset you, but sorry anyways!"

She still tried to cover her face with her hands, "Naruto..."

"Yeah? What's up, Hinata?"

She covered her eyes with her hands and murmured

"I'm sorry...I'm so sorry..."

The look on his face faltered. It upset him how he always manage to make Hinata sad even though he was trying his best to cheer her up. And he can't understand why she keeps saying sorry. What does she have to apologize for? It was insane!

He asked curiously, "For what, Hina chan?"

She wiped her eyes with the back of her sleeves and cleared her throat, "No-nothing..."

"Huh? Well, don't cry, Hina chan. And you have nothing to be sorry about. Nothing that beating Sasuke up won't fix, haha..."

And without saying much to another, he walked Hinata home to the Uchiha mansion despite her reassurance that she is okay. There was just something about Hinata that made him protective of her.

* * *

The following night, Sasuke heard a series of light padded footsteps trailing to the end of the corridor where he was sleeping. He just came back from his three day mission, so there was still tension that had yet to leave his system. He felt something-a dangerous aura of someone who just drank in the heat of battle like oxygen and was coming towards him with vague intentions. And the smell of blood that shouldn't be in his cherished home with Hinata.

At the sound of the door creaking open, Sasuke bolted up as the sense of urgency coursed through his veins and he was about to detach kusanagi that was standing by his he noticed it was her, he stared at her, "Hinata?" He was slightly surprised. Never in their life, has she ever initiated seeing him in the middle of the night. And he never saw her like he did right now.

She was standing in her outdoor apparel that she would wear during their sparrings. Her hand rested on the doorframe as she looked at him with sorrow and deep confusion. Water dripped from her long black hair, and under the moonlight that filtered through his window, he saw various shaped flesh wounds and gashes on her arms and even some scratches on her face. Her lips were busted, but her pearlescent eyes were the most haunting. She stared at him as if she was some lost soul.

Her lips let out a sound that was between a gasp and a shudder, and her lavender hued eyes widened and then squinted shut. Then in an instant, she rushed to him and buried herself to his chest, her arms encircling his waist. Sasuke stiffened at first at her unexpected motion and also the unmistakable metallic smell of blood. Then he slowly encircled her shoulders with his strong muscular arms. His forearm rested on her upper back where her dark hair was plastered. Her hair was wet. As if she has just tried to wash off the stench of blood from her body. His hand carefully pressed onto her back, not knowing how to give comfort but desperately wanting to give her the reassurance that he was there for her. That she can depend on him even if she is terrified by the idea of involving him or laying her burdens down. He just didn't want her to have to face things alone.

But when his splayed hands added pressure to her upper back, she flinched, "Ah!"

He quickly gripped her shoulder and moved away from her, studying her features, "Hinata-" He urgently whispered.

He didn't add force as to hurt her, but she was pale and panting. But there was a strange, deeply satisfied and content smile on her bruised face. She sighed and held him closer to her.

Then she suddenly sucked in some breath and grabbed her left shoulder, stretching her hand over to her upper back. She bit her bottom lip. He couldn't tell if she was battling an internal turmoil or physical pain.

He asked, "What happened?" Hinata was a strong fighter. She trained him when he was a young fledgling ninja. She was capable of bringing down the Hyuugas with her own gentle fist prowess. Who could have inflicted such damage? He felt his eyes burning like red coal. "Who did this to you, Hinata?" His voice was slightly shaking.

When he tried to strip her of her light purple jacket, she quickly detained his hands.

"Don't look, Sasuke," she looked up to him, "please..."

He stared at her. Then his eyes blazed in anger, "Let me see your back." His even tone forbade her from crossing him.

She hesitated. Then she bowed her head in defeat and slowly she took off her jacket. The transparent fishnet part of her sportsbra revealed her upper back.

There was a mark that was undeniably a seal, with a pattern of a swirling goblin fire. The silhouette was bleeding through.

Hinata answered what Sasuke was afraid to ask. Seeing her in pain that he has no idea to fix scared him, terrified him. She spoke through even breaths, as calmly as she can. "It's... the seal...acting in revolt...against me."

Sasuke asked, trying to temper the anger of his voice '

"Why do you have this seal, Hinata? Who did this?"

"I...did," she made a sad smile, "I...wanted to have strength and power to protect the ones I loved so badly...and I thought it was the right choice at the moment. But now it's my burden."

 _Burden. It looked more like a curse._ He stared and his heart clenched at the sight of the seal on her back.

His fingers tried to reach and touch the seal, but she weakly stopped him, "No..."

Then she collapsed lightly into his arms. He panicked at first, thinking that she fainted out of pain, but he heard her soft whisper, "Stay...like this with me. If you're by me..."

She smiled, as sweat beaded on her temple, "I'm strong."

* * *

She cast a sedating genjutsu on Sasuke before she rose to leave Konoha once again in the middle of the night. Sasuke was a heavy sleeper, but she didn't want to take a chance of him pursuing her. How ironic. For her to use Uchiha's 5000 year worth of chakra to knock Sasuke unconscious.

She looked at his sleeping form in his bedroom, "I'll be back, Sasuke..."

When she rested her hand on his rising and falling chest, she gently smiled, "Before I go...I just want to say...'thank you.'"

She leaned forward to give him a gentle kiss on the side of his lips, "You're the second person...who taught me love."

With that, she left his bedroom. As she closed the door behind her, she took one last glance at the man she loved.

* * *

The sound of the wind slapping through her clothes attested to the high speed with which she was flitting through the trees.

In the deep forests, Hinata felt the familiar stabbing pain on her upper back.

Her upper back where she still had the seal of kurama was burning like fire. It has been stinging and burning since her nightmare.

She heard a familiar, sly voice as she entered the middle of the forest grove, "Finally you reveal yourself, Hyuuga."

Hinata stopped on her tracks and gracefully landed in the middle of the opening. She straightened up as soon as she finished landing.

The dark haired girl spoke toward the direction of the voice, her pearl eyes full of challenge, "I didn't know if it would be fair to show myself when all I can see are your shadow clones."

Then from the shadows emerged an attractive girl with red hair and eyes, "Didn't know you had a sense of humor now, Hyuuga." The red haired beauty crossed her arms, "And that you would so mercilessly kill all my little friends I sent you."

Hinata closed her eyes as in pain and opened again. She didn't want to be reminded of the reasons she comes home late at night, smelling of death.

Karin then salaciously licked her lips with her tongue, "Or what does Uchiha sama call you now...' Hi...Na...Ta?'"

All blood seemed to drain from Hinata's face. But she fought to maintain her composure.

Hinata raised her voice

"I won't be undone by your dirty tricks!"

Karin snarled, "To think that you were keeping Uchiha sama all to yourself. You, snake. You're the ultimate dirty trickster."

Hinata slid her left heel back and assumed her fighting stance, her voice lowering dangerously, "I don't know what you're talking about."

* * *

A/N: Sorry for my late update. Just really crazy about work and life in general. Sooo I really want to edit some of the past chapters, by adding more subtle chemistry for past!sasuhina scenes, but gosh, I have this urge to just focus on keeping the plot rolling. I love reviews, so please get it coming! Let me know about what you think of this new plot development and what might need improvement, because there def is (sigh). Have a great weekend!


	27. Chapter 27

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

A/N: Hey, I am sorry for being late. By the way, I decided to mark the beginning and end of flashback scenes with (f) and italicize them.

Warning: Very OOC Naruto. For the sake of the plot.

Reviews are much appreciated.

* * *

(f) _Sasuke and Hinata have been enjoying a beautiful, balmy afternoon walk in the streets of Konoha until suddenly they felt grey clouds puffing above them. Soon they could feel ominously fat rain drops falling on their heads and shoulders. At first, Hinata thought it was fine and they could make it home, but as soon as the rain picked up in speed and frequency, they took shelter under a random shop's eaves. Luckily, Sasuke pulled her under in time before they both got soaked wet. To Hinata's dismay, the rain drops turned into hail, but if she was to see the bright side, the hail were pea sized and tiny. Instead of sounds of rain drops falling into puddles, they heard the sound of ice beads colliding against each other. The sound reminded Hinata of spilling beans into a silver bowl-a series of cackling beats that turn rhythmic and addicting. The hail was coming down, hard and loud, on the streets, garden plots, store booths, and some people._

 _Meanwhile, Sasuke was more concerned with how they were going to brave through this unexpected downpour on their way home._

 _As he glared at the sight of hail accumulating into piles of ice, Hinata pointed to the opposite direction, "Sasuke-"_

 _When he turned, he saw that the large, looming cloud coming to its end and the light blue sky._

 _Hinata suggested, "Maybe if we wait, the cloud will pass and then we can go."_

 _Sasuke nodded. He then crossed his arms and stood, and she stood by him, watching the hail coming down everywhere._

 _When the hail was replaced by rain drops, Hinata turned to Sasuke, "Shall...we?" She said tentatively._

 _He looked down at her for a moment and then placed his long sleeved arms above her head. Part of his pale grey sleeve draped over her dark head, and she gazed up to him with her pearly eyes and smiled._

 _They ran through the rain, and Hinata was pleasantly surprised that Sasuke's sleeve was doing a good job blocking the rain from her head. Yes, she can feel rain falling on her shoulder and time to time, her chest and back, when she is not in complete synchrony with Sasuke, but it was better than being completely soaked._

 _But the rain started to pour down in renewed vengeance, and they again had to escape underneath a small arcaded stone bridge._

 _As Hinata hugged herself to get some warmth, Sasuke shook off the excess water from his dark thick hair and his sleeves._

 _Seeing how Hinata might be cold, he stood by her and she inched closer to feel the heat radiating from him._

 _There was no hugging or rubbing each other's hands. They just stood, Hinata resting her shoulder and head carefully upon his chest. Pale mist was rising from the ground, undulating in lazy, elusive circles. Streams of water were going down into the storm drains, splashing over rocks. Modesty kept her from touching his wet body that she could see through the wet light grey shirt that melded onto the beautiful, buff chest and ivory shoulders. The sticky shirt stuck to the trace of his torso whenever the wind blew. Sasuke looked down at the woman who absorbed his body heat without fully leaning on him, his eyelashes and dark hair matted with rain._

 _Hinata's eyelashes were wet with rain, and she was lowering her gaze to his hands that gripped into fists. Her cheeks were flushed red from the rain and the run. She tentatively lifted her eyes, as if staring at him fully in the eye will scorch her._

 _As she looked into his eyes, his dark, elegant eyebrows that tended to slant in habitual sullenness lifted slightly, and his dark eyes widened by a fraction-in curiosity and tempered eagarness. In contrast with her ruddy cheeks, Sasuke was pale but radiant from the rain water that beaded on his cheeks and forehead. His long bangs that framed the side of his face were plastered everywhere, even between his eyes, making his hair look longer than usual._

 _As she continued her gaze, he tilted himself slightly as he faced her fully. The look on his face was so serious and he had yet to even say a word, but she can feel every fibre of his being calling to her. Hinata. Pulling her from her shell. Hinata. She blushed, and her eyes fluttered down to his hand that continued the motions of unfurling and gripping as in his chidori exercise. A tic when he is in anticipation, in the heat of battle or with her._

 _He continued looking down at her, speaking to her in a way that only she could understand. His heart was beating so hard that Hinata can feel the slight convulsive shudder of his chest when she breathed in the heat and smell of his skin. It was as if his heart was racking in its cage. Pale mist was rising from his skin and clothes like caressing smoke. His half lidded dazed look made her unconsciously reach out her hand and caress his browbone, channeling some of her chakra back._

 _When the rain started diminishing, they finally left the bridge and headed home. They could still feel the rain drops falling because of the wind rustling the branches, and Hinata was amazed to see the sun again. Suddenly everything was deadly quiet. As they did from the beginning, they walked in silence._ (f)

Now there was no rain, no silent love language, no quiet expectant eyes. Just her and her nemesis. Hinata loved the rain. She loved him in the rain. But she knew there was going to be no rain tonight.

Facing her from several yards away was a lean, slender girl with blazing red hair.

The shorter, midnight blue haired girl stared at her. After executing a few hand jutsus, Karin pulled out and idly swung her chakra chains that materialized from the center of her torso. Beyond her dark rimmed glasses, she sized Hinata up as she stared at her like a stalking panther.

Hinata's eyes narrowed. She can hear Kurama growling inside her at the sight of the swinging chains that glowed a pale sickly yellow in the dark."What's wrong?" She asked the monster calmly.

The beast answered gruffly. I _had a bad encounter with those exact chains_.

Then in a blink of an eye, the chain shot straight against her.

Hinata leaped away, and the tree behind her split like tissue paper.

She rolled on the grass and stood, staring at the red haired girl. From behind her back were six chakra chains that undulated in the night air as if they're sentient entities.

Hinata's eyes widened. Before, the Karin she knew only wielded one chain, and the chain never came from her own body.

Karin made a satisfied smirk, "Surprised, Hyuuga? Don't be. It took 5000 years for me to finally own my blood as an Uzumaki." A chain almost coiled around her own body, and she stroked it as if it was a pet.

Hinata lowered her voice dangerously, "What do you want, Karin?"

The red haired girl laughed, "Isn't it obvious, Hyuuga? Or are you that dense?" The laughter resided, and Karin glared at her with eerie calm, "Something, someone that you should never have touched. That never belonged to you."

At her word, another huge chain slammed against the ground, causing the soil to erode into a landslide. When Hinata dodged that chain, another slammed where she was standing.

When the dust cloud cleared out, Hinata was panting as she narrowly escaped being smashed onto the soil or strangled.

Karin titled her head, mocking, "Tired already, Hyuuga? Seems like 5000 years of sleeping did more harm than good for you. It would've been better if Uchiha sama just left you dead. What a waste it was-for such a magnificent creature to waste his glorious chakra on a sorry excuse of space."

Hinata slowly rose, but soon Karin's six chains shot against her all at once.

When Karin was sure that at least two of her chains must have penetrated through Hinata's torso, she felt-nothing.

Before the cloud dust even began to clear, she heard the sound of light clanking.

Soon she saw a silhouette of a girl running towards her on the chakra chains.

When Karin bit the inside of her cheek and tried to attack the girl with her chains, she felt the chains unable to move-as if somebody tied a knot around the ends.

Then her crimson eyes saw that Hinata snuck in twenty kunais in and between the chains, paralyzing their movements.

Karin spoke through gritted teeth, "You...insolent!" Her chakra chains shattered the kunais like glass and liberated themselves.

When Hinata felt the chakra chain she was treading on swing violently, she gasped but managed to duck the chains' attacks, swinging and diving in the air like an acrobat.

When she was right above Karin's head, Hinata tried to activate her Gentle Fist: Twin Lion, but another chain shot out of seemingly nowhere and shot against her from the back. The chain grazed the side of her right arm and waist, and she all but yelped as she tumbled down.

When she peered to her back, she saw the chain spouting from another chain.

Falling from the air, she landed on the grass and kept rolling until her back was slammed on a tree, knocking the wind out of her.

Coughing out blood, she tried to stand on her feet again, but she found herself writhing on the grass.

Kurama roared in her Conjure your past master, Hyuuga! That's the only way to win or you'll die!

She shivered, her hands digging into the grass, "I...can't."

Faces of Naruto flitted across her mind. (F) _Are you happy, Naruto kun? Yup! This Uzumaki Naruto is going to be hokage someday, believe it!_ (F)

Panting, she rose up steadily. Her clothes were dirty and tattered, and she breathed heavily. Everywhere, especially her shoulder and neck, started to ache. "I can't break... his dreams. He's finally happy. It will be like...killing Naruto kun."

Kurama murmured in surprise, _Hyuuga..._

Suddenly Hinata began to see Sasuke's face with his handsome, blinding smirk. And the face he made when they were taking shelter from the rain under the bridge? Like flashbacks she has as signs that she'll never see that person again?

Then she heard a silvery voice that reminded her of oil flowing from a basin or acid from a canister.

"I commend you for coming so far away in this remote area."

A serpentine hiss from somewhere. A giant grey snake with a girth of a tree trunk slithered around a sandaled feet. A hooded man appeared from the dark, "But do you think it is really wise to confront both of us on your own?"

Hinata's eyes widened to impossible sizes as she took in the changes to the scientist nin's features. She didn't know whether to say it was age or presumable history of awful experiments that made him look half human half serpentine. His skin has taken on a grey hue, and his eyes were slanted back, and his pupils turned wild yellow. What only remained was his grey hair that was let down on his shoulders and round rimmed glasses.

"Especially now that the chakra Uchiha has given you is depleting at a fast rate."

His slanted yellow eyes narrowed in icy scrutiny that made her feel like a lab rat.

Satisfied of his power over her, he continued, "You must have been rather careless in your use of his precious chakra, Hyuuga. Or...could you have given it to someone?"

Hinata clenched her fists and looked at him with eyes that looked grey in the dark, "Why...why were you looking for me?"

Kabuto tilted his head to a side, "Pardon?"

She clenched both of her fists tightly, "It was you, the one who searched the clan of my blood and convinced them to tell you if I ever return to them. By giving them the technology that allows them to subjugate half of their own people." She grit her teeth in anger.

She felt the special veins around her eyes branching over her temples, "And it was you who spread rumors about the Waker's Pearl to get the daimyos to locate me."

"Ahh, how rude of you to answer my question with a question, Hyuuga. But I'll humor you. Yes. We looked for you. We looked for you for 5000 years." A look of rage flashed across both Kabuto and Karin's eyes. "Karin and I both have a debt to clear out with you."

"Let's say I understand Karin," she rose on her left feet, but stumbled in fatigue, "but...what did I do to you?"

His mask of sadistic calmness fell. "You...don't know?"

His face drew back into a snarl, "How dare you...for not knowing..."

Hinata's eyes widened as she took in the rage evident in his body gesture, "You fucked me up with Uchiha wrapped around your finger... and now you decide to play innocent?"

She saw him take off his gloves, and his hands take on a waxy sheen and greenish hue, "If you knew what Uchiha did to threaten me into reviving you, Hyuuga, you wouldn't see him as the same, loving master. In fact, one can even argue that he is closer to 'evil' than I ever was."

Then a strange tubular organism sprouted from the back of his hand, "He tortured me, using every psychological trick he had on his sleeve, forcing me to revive you by all means. I was the one to check the wires that connected your body to the fluids that sustained you. I had to check your vitals. I had to prove every second that I was using Itachi's Rinnegan to the fullest potential."

And he gritted his teeth, "And after all that, he left."

Hinata felt her breath still. She might have been mistaken, but was it an 'emotion' she saw in the mad scientist's eyes? Betrayal? Hurt? She could never understand this scientist.

Somehow, she felt compassion for the man. She knew what it meant to be betrayed by someone she dearly wanted to impress with all her heart. And who is she to assume what the mad scientist might be feeling?

After a pause, Hinata finally answered, "True. He...did many evil things. And...what he did to you...must have been pure evil."

She murmured and instantly breathed life into both of her hands, 'Gentle Fist-Twin Lion.' Blue globes of fire danced around her hands.

"But please... I want us to talk through this, first." Her pale eyes glowed like the moon above their heads. She drew her left leg back and assumed her stance.

Kabuto sneered. "What, because of your morals that revenge is wrong, Hyuuga? Or is it your pathetic attachment to his reincarnation?"

For a moment, the young woman didn't say anything. And then she finally opened her mouth. Her voice was calm like the breeze that passed through them. "In this new world...where my values, my loyalty must readjust...the only thing that I have that remains..."

At her last murmured words, the calm, slyly composed face of the nin morphed into a hideous mask of hatred.

"So you preaching behind all your morals and outdated virtues like righteousness, justice, and loyalty was a facade."

He lifted a condemning finger at her, "You are as self-motivated, if not more, than any of the contestants that you used to hate."

His cruel smile didn't reach his eyes, "I would love to see your pure face contort in despair as I dig out his eyes from his sockets."

"No, Kabuto!" Karin must have now called him informally, "you won't touch him!"

He clicked his tongue and looked down at his red haired collaborator in scorn, "That was his bargain. Giving me a chance at his sharingan and rinnegan."

Confused, Hinata echoed his word, "Bar..gain?"

He made the kind of uncomfortable smile that sent chills down her arms and spine, "In return for reviving you...Uchiha agreed to give me a chance at his eyes."

Hinata's face turned sheet white. She felt weak at her knees. Like she was going to throw up any second. Her chest constricted as she imagined blood soaking Sasuke's face.

Meanwhile, Karin pouted and crossed her arms, "Again, it is a chance. If you get to extract his bloodline. No matter what, he'll be mine."

If the time was any less urgent, Hinata would have felt disgust and loathing toward Karin's selfish possessiveness. But all she needed to know was the extant of Kabuto's plans and madness.

Hoping to get more in depth with his mind, Hinata asked tentatively, "Why didn't you...just ask for it?"

When Kabuto stared at her, she rephrased her question, "Why didn't you choose to be straightforward...and ask for his eye?"

She didn't understand why Kabuto would go through all this trouble. He could have asked Uchiha for his bloodline limit then and there. Why bother hunting for a reincarnation with no promise that he'll appear any soon or even possess those ocular powers?

At her question, Kabuto's thin lips tilted upward,

"Because, I do love a good chase. The thrill of the hunt makes it a better fun."

Hinata grimaced, How deranged is this man? What made him this way?

"And Hyuuga, you're the key to Uchiha. This way, I can have a chance at your eyes as well."

"Y-you think he is here with me. But that's not true. Somebody else awakened me."

"And that someone is Uchiha. Don't think about lying to me, Hyuuga. We already have all the intelligence gathered. We're just stalling...to amplify your despair."

Suddenly, Kabuto's eyes widened as if a thought flitted through his mind like lightning.

Then his lips slowly drew back into a smirk, "Karin, I'll leave her to you."

Suddenly, a premonition of danger shook Hinata to the core. She felt him. She cried from deep in her chest, a silent scream. 'No...Sasuke!'

His yellow eyes took on a deranged, crazed look, "I feel...him coming."

Hinata thought frantically, 'No, it can't be! Did he break from the genjutsu?'

She had cast a sedating genjutsu on him and barred the entrance of the Uchiha mansion with every seal possible. But now Sasuke was heading toward their direction.

Karin smiled and took a step closer to Hinata who glared back at her, "Fufu, my pleasure. The sooner I'm over with you, I get to see Uchiha sama."

Hinata narrowed her eyes at them as she blocked Kabuto's path, "I thought you both had a debt to settle with me."

Suddenly a giant green tail slithered from underneath the bottom of his cape and slammed Hinata across the neck to her chest on a big tree.

Awed by the speed and pain of the tail, Hinata couldn't say anything for a while as she sat lying in the midst of the rubble.

Without wasting his time, Kabuto sped to where he felt Sasuke's energy.

Hinata cried, "No, wait!" But before she can rise from the debris, she saw Karin leaping from above.

 _Crash-_

As soon as she rolled out of Karin's crushing blow, she assumed a defense stance a few yards away from her.

More chains started coming at her from various directions.

Karin tilted her chin, and a sly smirk formed on her perfect lips, "I've been waiting for this, Hyuuga."

* * *

In the most heart wrenching voice, Hinata said each word with pain that Sasuke can taste and feel. Pain that kept his chest reeling in a dull yet searing ache.

 _Sasuke...run! Please..._

Sasuke murmured, "Hinata, where are you?" Frenzied, he tore through the leafy branches that clung to his clothes.

But suddenly he felt a terrible presence coming at him in full speed, and he dodged the crushing blow of something that was long and big enough to leave a terrain where he was standing.

When he coughed into the back of his fist, the cloud started to clear out.

Then he saw a hooded figure around his height when the dust began to settle down.

Though the hood covered his eyes, he recognized that greyish white hair and the gaunt, sickly looking skin.

When yellow eyes met black, it occurred to Sasuke that this was an enemy.

* * *

 _Slam-_

Blood coughed out of Hinata's mouth as she was thrown mercilessly against a tree that splitter in protest against the assault.

Cast in the shadows, Karin loomed over her, "Pathetic. If you would just conjure your Waker, then you would be able to fight me. But look at you."

Breathing deeply in and out, Hinata looked up at her. Blood spilled from her forehead, "Karin...why...why do you want me to conjure Uzumaki sama so badly?"

Karin's crimson eyes widened. Hinata asked again, "Is-isn't it Sasuke you want? So...why-why do you?"

"Don't act dumb, Hyuuga." Her voice was sharp enough to slice the air.

"You know that Uchiha sama and Uzumaki are like the moon and sun. They need each other to be themselves."

With all the hatred possible in her, Karin glared down at her. The scorn and hatred were so palpable, it took everything in Hinata to look back into her eyes.

"Right now Uchiha sama is not what he used to be. You turned him into a mere mortal and made him stay that way for your selfish pleasure."

"Th-that's not true!"

"You are weak and pathetic. The only way you can bind Uchiha sama to yourself is to make him weak and clueless about who he is."

Karin slung her chain against the tree and narrowly missed Hinata. But Karin looked unprovoked by her miss. A slight glance at Hinata's state already informed her that she has won. Karin spoke calmly, "I am just trying to revive his magnificence."

Her crimson eyes suddenly looked soft and yearning. "If Uzumaki sama becomes himself again, there is a strong chance that Uchiha sama will return."

Karin looked up at the full moon. Hinata wondered. Did Karin wait for him for five thousand years, looking at the moon, the celestial representation of the Second Waker? Or was Karin also a reincarnation? But those questions didn't seem to matter anymore. Regardless of Karin's character, her love and loyalty for Uchiha was astonishing. Maybe, Hinata thought, it was unfair of her to judge Karin's feelings.

Slowly Hinata spoke, "Maybe...you're right... I am keeping him to myself...I never deserved him."

Her voice was low and calm. She steadily raised her head and looked at Karin in the eye, "You may kill me but there is a part of me you can never take away..."

Karin's eyes widened as Hinata's lips curved into a pained smile, "I can die happy... cherishing what he has given me. "

Karin gritted her perfect white teeth. "A weakling like you...daring to mock me."

Suddenly she reached out her hand and grabbed a fistful of Hinata's dark hair, "Conjure your master! I know you still have the seal!"

 _Slam-!_

Pieces of brittle wood fell from her forehead that hit the trunk with full force. Karin's victim groaned.

But her red eyes were cold and her voice lacked emotion. "Wrong answer." _Slam-!_ Using her tight rein on her hair, Karin double winded Hianta's hair around her fist and slammed her face against the tree trunk again.

After a few more butting her head against the splintering tree, Hinata cannot help but scream at the pain.

"Aaahh!"

When Karin released her grip on her hair, Hinata rolled onto the ground. The shock of the blow on her head making her rasp in panic. She felt like an animal beating pummeled mercilessly for the sake of meat and skin.

Then she felt the sole of Karin's sandals grinding her head onto the soil.

She also felt darkness overcoming her senses. Warm liquid poured over her face, smelling of iron. Hinata supposed it was blood and closed her eyes in resignation.

'If I die...all the chakra he has given me will go back to him, and Kabuto wouldn't be able to easily hurt him.'

Her fingers curled around the grass as her mind articulated what she thought would be her final words, 'Sasuke...thank you for everything...'

When Karin was busily shoving Hinata's face onto the soil, she noticed something. "Oh?"

There it was, the seal-burning a dark red and searing through the back of her light lavender jacket.

Karin made a wide grin, "You know, Hyuuga...this can be easier than I thought."

Dread slowly creeped into Hinata's chest. There was no reason Karin's voice should sound so light hearted. Usually, it meant something very bad.

"You know that I am related to your past master, right?"

Suddenly a deadly epiphany hit Hinata. She gasped and using the last inkling of her strength, she tried to push Karin away but it was too late.

Karin slammed her palm onto Hinata's back. A gold ring formed around Karin's palm and the seal started disintegrating. Hinata screamed, "Noooooo!"

"Call for your master, Hyuuga! Call his name, now!"

The sound of malevolent roaring and resentment echoed from within Hinata, but it was not Hinata's. More like a nightmare's conjured devil's hissing and writhing in rage.

"Stop struggling! Call him! Conjure him!"

Hinata screamed, a harrowing scream full of agony, "Aahhh!" The pain was so much. Her skin was rupturing everywhere where Karin was hitting her.

Suddenly Hinata's eyes opened, blazing with a white glow with a ring of gold- **Uzumaki sama**

Karin's red eyes brightened in furious elation as she witnessed the eye of the orange gold storm rising to the heights, beyond the canopy of the forest.

Hinata's scream grew as she felt the pain of Kurama ripping through her body. But the fear and knowledge of her impending loss is what terrified her the most.

She cried out. Tears started to form in her eyes.

Suddenly Hinata's vision was blinded by white. She squirmed, 'No, not right now! I can't pass out right now. I have to go to-'

But it was not Hinata passing out. But the white light that surrounded everywhere was still there.

When she fluttered her eyes open, she was confused. Suddenly she felt no pain. Gone was the forest where everywhere she can see proof of Karin's mass destruction. She was in a space full of whiteness and warmth. The space was pristine but it also enveloped her with a sense of familiarity.

She was still lying on the ground, but she slowly rose. She was bowing her head down, confused over what just happened. Could this all have been just a terrible dream?

Then she felt a pair of warm, large hands caress her cheeks. She can feel a pair of warm eyes looking down at her with concern.

Then a familiar gruff voice, but with a calm, protective tone of even greater, deeper familiarity, "Hyuuga."

She raised her stunned eyes slowly. So slowly that it felt a moment of eternity.

Then she finally saw them. Those two brilliant blue eyes that now filled her with longing but also dread-a paradox in itself.

* * *

Cradling her face between his bandage wrapped hands, Uzumaki looked down at his Waker's Pearl that he didn't see for years, "Hyuuga."

"U-Uzumaki sama..." Her pale, cracked, dry lips quivered as she voiced his name in a breathy whisper.

"I heard your cry, Hyuuga." A rueful but warm smile spread across his ruggedly handsome face. "You called for me, didn't you?"

A tearful whimper escaped. Her eyes became filled with tears. Tears that trickled down from her eyes and rolled down her cheeks.

"I'm back," he knelt on one knee before her as he stroked her wet cheek, "because you called for me."

"I'm so sorry, Uzumaki sama, I'm so sorry!" Tears continued gushing from her eyes, but she made no move to wipe them. She continued looking at her past master's face that grew sadder at the sight of her tears and profuse apology.

"I-I-I tried so hard, bu-but...I'm sorry, I-"

Suddenly she cannot continue her words as she felt Uzumaki's strong arms envelop her in a tight hug. Her sniffling, running nose was smushed between his breasts, but Uzumaki only hugged her tighter.

"You fought well, Hyuuga." Uzumaki closed his eyes as he felt Hinata shiver in his embrace.

"Bu-but...Naruto kun-" Hinata almost wailed in grief as she remembered the wide, sunshiny grin of the blond Konohan shinobi. "He-he's gone, isn't he? Na-Naruto kun is-"

"No," He answered firmly. He then slightly released her from his tight hug. He held her right hand with his bigger one and drew her to his chest, "The Naruto that you know...and me...we're the same person. None of us is gone. We're both here."

Her eyes widened, "I...I don't understand."

Uzumaki, who looked more like just a serious Naruto kun, explained "When your seal broke and you called for me, Kurama opened up my reincarnation's subconscious memory. Both my memories and powers as a Waker returned. But I still have the present memories of Konoha too."

Hinata hesitated. A long pause ensued. Then she asked, knowing very well that it was her hope that was prompting her, "Co-could you...still be Naruto kun? The Naruto kun who dreams to be hokage? The happy..."

"Hinata," the smile on his face was so sad and final that it made Hinata's heart crack, "we both know...that can't happen."

After a pause, he finally opened his mouth, "I have to return to the Realm."

Tears welled up in Hinata's eyes. She bowed and shook her head, "I...I killed you. I killed your dreams! Because I was weak! It was my fault, my-"

"Hyuuga!" He grabbed both of Hinata's shoulders and tried to look into her eyes, but she was inconsolable. She kept shaking her head, crying like a child. He bit his bottom lip as he saw the young woman crying so much.

Seeing Hinata crying in self tormenting grief, Uzumaki suddenly felt a dark idea making its way into his mind. Right now Hinata wanted her power back. He was the one who can give her power. It has been five thousand years. He finally has a chance. Capitalizing on her grief to have her. He can never stoop so low, but he couldn't let go of the chance to be with Hyuuga.

Kurama whispered, _Just tell her your truth. Deliver your truth. That's all it takes. Forget about her being Sasuke's Waker's Pearl. She was yours first._

"Hyuuga...Uchiha Sasuke was not the only one waiting for you, Hyuuga."

At his words, Hinata's light lavender eyes widened and she froze. She then saw Uzumaki firmly grasp both of her wrists.

Uzumaki's blue eyes dimmed as he saw the sudden change in her face as soon as he mentioned his name.

"Don't make it so obvious that you love him, Hyuuga," his grasp on her wrists tightened as he made a bitter grimace, "I had to die and wait for thousands of years, just waiting for you to wake me."

Shocked, Hinata stared at him, "Uzumaki sama-"

"There was nobody but you, my Waker's Pearl, to wake me and my memories. Why else did you think Kurama was bugging you?"

His azure blue eyes stared at her, looking so tortured and hurt that the gaze seared her chest. She opened her lips, "Uzumaki sama, I-"

"I know," he blurted out as if words were spilling from the deepest part of his being, "I know that you chose to not wake me because you thought it was for my best. You wanted me to just live in Konoha, the way I always wanted to. But, tell me, Hyuuga, just tell me honestly, was that your biggest motive?"

He bowed his head and gritted his teeth. Then he yelled out, "Didn't you just want to live as Hinata and Sasuke without worrying about your pasts? Wasn't that the biggest reason you didn't call for me?"

Paralyzed by the raw energy emitting from his body, Hinata stared at him wide eyed. Grief stricken tears fell from her shocked eyes. Ashamed, she closed her eyes and tried to turn her face away, but Uzumaki arrested her face with his two hands and forced her to look at him,

"You didn't call my name because you were afraid. You were afraid that I will hurt Uchiha for killing me and taking you."

"Please..." Hinata begged, but Uzumaki cannot hold back his pent up emotions.

"But Hyuuga," he raised his voice, "why can't you see that it's you that's hurting me a hundred times more? You tried to fight your memories of me. You tried to fight me."

She covered his hands that grasped both side of her face. The tears that were unleashed ran like a torrent now.

Studying her face, Uzumaki made a bitter smile, "Even now...you're worrying about him."

He then slowly approached her. Alarmed, she stilled her breath. Then she felt a slight bump on her forehead. He was leaning his forehead on hers.

His facial expression looked worn out and exhausted even though he was glowing with a white blazing light.

"I'm not a saint, Hyuuga." His voice sounded strangely imploring. "There's only so much I can take."

He stood up and his eyes seemed to stare piercingly into a distance. "So don't expect me to spare Uchiha. Not even your tears can save him."

But he felt her small, delicate hand grabbing his ankle, "Please, Uzumaki sama."

She lifted her tear drenched face up to him. She chastised herself. Was this all she was good for? Crying and begging? What a pathetic weakling she was.

"I-I'm sorry. Everything you said was right. My fears...my cowardice... So please...please don't lift your hand against Sasuke."

She bowed her head, feeling her chest constrict in pain. She clenched her fist to her chest, "He doesn't know anything. He's just a boy. What...what can you get by hurting a boy?"

Uzumaki stared down at her, turmoil dancing in his eyes and jaw clenching.

She sunk low to the ground, "It's me who knew everything but still chose to betray you. So please...punish me instead. I was wrong."

There was a tense pause.

Then she felt several fingers curling beneath her chin, and her face was raised to look at a pair of blue eyes that stared down at her intensely.

She stared at him, wide eyed and confused. He slowly opened his lips.

At his words, Hinata's eyes widened and her lips quivered. Her eyes still widened as she frantically shook her head.

"I can't...I'm Sasuke's Waker's Pearl, how can I-"

He dropped his fingers that stroked her chin in admiring contemplation and rose.

"I can sever your contract with him by force..." He looked down at her with sad, impassive eyes that echoed the burden of being powerful and lonely, "Or you can break it yourself."

Hinata shook her head slowly, and her eyes were filled again with tears.

Looking at his former Waker's Pearl, Uzumaki sighed and softened the edge of his voice. "I'll give you time to decide, Hyuuga."

When he sent her back to the world where suffering awaits her, Kurama screamed in protest.

 _Why did you let her go? She'll never come back now! Why didn't you just sever her tie to Uchiha and make her yours? You fool!_

But the Light Waker's voice was calm as his gaze drifted to where Hinata was. "She'll come back...Hyuuga...she'll come back to me. Because only I can give her what she wants."

* * *

Hinata tried her best rushing to where her master was.

Leaning her trampled, bleeding body on a nearby tree, she raised her eyes to only see the terror that was waiting for her.

When he saw who intruded upon the scene, Kabuto grinned. In his hand was an eyeball rolled idly between his pale knuckles. Beneath his left foot was what could not be mistaken otherwise-a torn arm with a dark wristband.

When she finally discovered what she was desperately looking for, a mangled body lying still in the puddle of blood, she collapsed on her knees.

Seeing her despair, Kabuto smiled in satisfaction and took leave into the darkness.

From a distance, she heard familiar voices of various ninjas of Konoha rushing toward her direction.

But all she could see was what used to be Sasuke, lying on the cold ground.

She saw a pink haired kunoichi, Sakura right?, picking up Sasuke and screaming his name, but Hinata felt so distant. As if all these scenes happening before her were unreal.

Somebody screamed her name too. It was a woman's. Blond...long hair. She was grabbing her by her collar, demanding what happened to 'Sasuke kun.' But Hinata couldn't answer.

Hinata saw Sakura pumping her green healing chakra into his body. The bright purple diamond on her forehead shone.

She saw life slowly coming back into his face. The pink haired beauty cried tears of relief as she continued to channel her chakra over him.

Hinata stared at the two. Even when other shinobis were questioning her, some even threatening physical harm on her, all she could see was the raven and the cherry blossom. What seemed to be an unlikely match suddenly seemed to make sense.

What didn't make sense? Hinata and Sasuke. They don't make sense.

And when she saw Sakura breath back life into what used to be Sasuke, that was when Hinata knew.

'His side...was never my place.'

* * *

Moonlight filtered through into the hospital room. A petite woman with long, dark hair was sitting by the side of a man who was lying unconscious on the bed.

First there was silence. Then finally, the woman opened her lips.

"When there just isn't an answer coming from the other side, it is enough to feel very alone." The silence is suffocating. Maddening. "I just want to hear your voice. Where are you now?"

Hinata wanted her cry to reach to Sasuke in his recumbent form, but at the same time didn't want to disturb his peaceful unconsciousness. She never felt such numbing sadness. This heartache. She was as good as a ghost. And she bet she looked like one too. What others think or say didn't matter to her at that moment. Sasuke wasn't speaking to her. Was she finally getting punished for selfishly plotting the safety of her happiness? Maybe she never deserved such happiness in the strong arms of someone she loved looking up to when the dawn was still dark.

She felt as if she could hear the voices of the Konohans around her. Stupid girl. Stupid, love-obsessed girl. Look where she took her lover to. A coma with his beautiful eye blotted out of existence and a stump of an arm.

Her heart was hurting, vibrating, quivering in its minutely exquisite pain that vibrated through her every being. 'Where are you?' She wanted to cry.

The kind of all consuming, roaring cry. But only a silent tear rolled down her cheek.

'If the wound is gaping so wide, the longer it stays fresh,' she thought. Her wound is spread everywhere. She felt like forever she will be a bleeding mess.

'I guess this is it. It is best that I am gone. I understand. Just...please think of me time to time. Not all the time. Just a little bit.'

She cannot bare to look at the sunken eye socket. And th blood drained face.

The worst part is that the only way she knew she was still alive was the excruciating, numbing pain she can feel at the tip of her hands and cold feet and the hellish tremor of her chest.

Hinata felt how her stomach would lurch everytime she sees a dark shadow flitting across the corner of her vision. 'Sasuke, is that you?'

Only to see that it was an illusion played by her torturously hopeful mind. Then she never felt so alone.

Why did it seem so much harder, at least hundred times harder for her to just have someone to love in peace? It didn't matter to her if she had to love more. She just wanted to love, shower him in love in peace. Without fear of retribution or loneliness. Or sudden abandonment. Was there something about her that repelled love?

Hinata still remembers when he, clad all in dark clothes, would look down at her. Him being tall, squaring his shoulders, as she nuzzled her nose against the soft cotton t shirt over his chest. When a fool would try to allure her into a dance, before he can even bare his teeth on the stranger's insolence, she would rush to him and bury her face onto his chest, put a placating hand over his chest and smile bashfully. When she would do that, all anger and possessiveness would melt because she, the little fairy had ran back to the one she chose for the night. Pride would bubble in the chest she had her hand over, and he would look down at her giggling lips with a tender hearted smile he couldn't erase with all his stoic nature.

Nights became scary to sleep through because that was when emotions were most alive.

'Sever my contract with him...' she told herself. 'I only bring him suffering.'

She looked at the bandaid wrap that Sakura so efficiently and tenderly encased his torso and arm with, "And Sakura...can heal him. And protect him."

Thanks to the power Uzumaki has temporarily granted her, she has the ability to abandon her current master. Severing the tie of a Waker's Pearl was as easy as a swipe of a finger. That was all it takes. But that movement does not ensure that she can erase his existence from her life. She'll eternally miss him. But it does guarantee one thing. It can eliminate her from his life. He will be hurt at first. But he will eventually forget her. If not Sakura, he would find another person to share his hearth, his life with. What was theirs would be gone. With no chance of recovery. Because she would be painting blinding whitening lacquer over their pastel rain blotted memories. It is like burying things over and over with layers and layers of paint. It is never gone, but it is as good as gone.

With those thoughts, Hinata gathered light into her finger tips. Tears came down from her eyes that tried to blink back the pain.

"Contract annulled," her voice spoke almost mechanically but she can feel herself trembling. The light disappeared, slowly, like a candlelight losing its spark, leaving behind a hiss of smoke.

She rose from her seat. She felt as if something just died in her.

She turned her back to the man who was still lying asleep on his bed. She couldn't bear to look at his face one more time.

"Good bye...my sweet master."

* * *

She was out in the woods again. She looked up at the full moon. Tears were dried from her face, and now her pale silver eyes glowed in determination.

"I know what to do now, Sasuke."

And suddenly her seal started to glow, and the wreath of fire consumed her back. But her face was serene and there was no hint of pain. She accepted Kurama.

Then a small whirlwind appeared before her, and as soon as the wind died down, she saw Uzumaki standing before her.

"Hyuuga." Uzumaki called.

She merely looked at him, with calm serenity. Then she lowered her eyes to the ground and bowed, bringing her knee to the ground.

"Hyuuga, the First Waker's Pearl..." she held his white cape and brought it to her forehead, "salutes Uzumaki sama and swears her loyalty."

Uzumaki looked down at her for a moment. And then he seized the petite woman in his arms.

Almost crushing her in his embrace, he let his voice to tremble, "Hyuuga..."

Hyuuga looked at the distance beyond his broad shoulders with a vacant, hollow look in her eyes. Then she clenched her eyes shut as to ward away the pain.

She raised her tiny hands and embraced him back, "Yes, Uzumaki Naruto sama."

He hugged her tighter, "Let's go back. To where we belong."

Imagining her former master and Sakura together, side by side, she answered, "Yes."

Because that was where everyone belonged. She with Naruto. And Sasuke with Sakura.

That was where it all belonged.


	28. Chapter 28

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

A/N: Been so long! I was itching to write the next chapter. So glad that I am able to start! Thank you so much for your reviews. I love reading them time to time.

First of all, I am sorry for the confusion caused by the scene where Hinata severs her tie with Sasuke. I take responsibility for not making it clear enough. So bottomline is Hinata DOESN't get to erase Sasuke's memory. Her severing her tie with Sasuke was possible because her ex master Uzumaki came to life, overpowering her connection to Sasuke. Hinata decides to sever her tie as Sasuke's Waker's Pearl on her own, rather than have Uzumaki do it for her.

If anyone has gone through the experience of cutting off a romantic relationship, you might have felt bitterness and grief about its premature end. But at the same time, you feel the need to wish for the best of the person you were with and hope that he/she gets to move on as well. I wanted to convey Hinata's contradictory desire for Sasuke's happiness and her wish that he never forgets his love for her. And her fear that she will suffer in pain while Sasuke shrugs it off and eventually moves on.

Anyways, I hope my explanation makes it a bit clearer. Enjoy!

* * *

She was finally so close. After all these thousands of years of hunting and searching, she has finally sought the reincarnation of the only being who has captured her dreams, time, and every breath.

She succeeded in getting rid of the white eyed pest that managed to blind the reincarnation to his fullest potential. That byakugan whore has shut in the light that was Uchiha sama, so she can selfishly keep him for her weak, pathetic self. But now that selfish, conniving hussy who hid behind the guise of innocence was gone and defeated. It was probable that the girl was now under Uzumaki's power. The Light Waker might have even killed her for betraying him in such way. Not that Karin cared. It would actually be sweet if Uzumaki did the dirty work and kill Hyuuga for her.

Her crimson eyes that gleamed behind her spectacles eyed the walls of Konoha with sharp hunger.

She was so close.

"I'm coming for you, Uchiha sama."

She cooed, "I'm sorry for being so late. I'll get you out of that miserable mortality."

With her powerful jutsus and potions that she developed over years, she was sure she can trigger the part of his memory that can unleash his powers as the Shadow Waker.

When she was about to lunge toward the walls, suddenly, a powerful grip on the back of her slender neck rooted her to her spot.

 _Slam-_

If her chakra chains that shot from her back didn't propel her towards the other direction, the attacker's gentle fist would have punctured a hole onto her lovely back.

Like an agile cat, Karin spun into the air and landed onto the ground. Clouds of smoke and debris rose in the velvet darkness of the night, and her crimson eyes can see a silhouette of a long haired, slender figure rising slowly.

Karin snarled, baring white teeth. "Hyuuga…"

'Always, that frustrating bitch...'

Hyuuga, remarkably for the short elapse in time, showed no trace of the damage she has suffered in Karin's hands. Her pure black chiffon dress that clung to her figure showed a glimpse of her pale thigh.

Her hair was long and soft as silk, and the strands billowed in the night wind softly like a flag.

She seemed to be closing her eyes as in meditation, but slowly she opened her eyes, revealing haunting orbs of glowing lavender. The lack of murderous energy in her eyes made her look even more haunting, especially since she has just attacked Karin from behind with her gentle fist.

"Impossible," Karin gritted her teeth, "You should be where Uzumaki Naruto is. Why are you here?"

Sliding her left feet in a graceful circle, Hyuuga assumed her battle stance. Her hands were raised in the traditional posture of the gentle fist.

In an almost mechanical voice, Hyuuga answered, "There's one thing you don't understand about my master."

As she assumed her throes of gentle fist attacks, Karin barely managed to block them with her arms.

Hyuuga's hands, though soft and delicate looking, were deft like blades.

Karin hissed in frustration. Hyuuga, after her activation of her contract as the First Waker's Pearl, was a formidable opponent for even her.

Meanwhile, Hyuuga looked calm and untired. She looked down at Karin whose chains started to snake from her back like hydras, "He is the one who has sent me here."

* * *

 _A few minutes before_ , both Hyuuga and Uzumaki were walking in the golden mountains where reefs grew under the sinking sun. The sun was sinking down in the west.

Hyuuga couldn't hep but think. Think about what could have happened if it wasn't for Kabuto and Karin.

Thanks to her newfound power as Uzumaki's Waker's Pearl, Hinata was granted the ability to abandon her current master.

Severing the tie of a mere human's Waker's Pearl was as easy as a swipe of a finger. The facility with which she can erase everything she built with Sasuke made the decision even crueler.

Swiping her finger. That was all it takes. But even if she is the one severing the tie, she knows. She'll eternally miss him. But it does guarantee one thing. It can eliminate her from Sasuke's life. Sure, he will be shocked. For all his magnificent feat, he's after all only human, and they shared a part, no matter how small it was, their lives together. He will be hurt at first. But he will eventually forget her. If not Sakura, he would find another person to share his hearth, his life with. What was theirs would be gone. With no chance of recovery. To him, she'll just be someone he used to know, someone who broke his heart and left him cold when he needed her most. But Hinata knew that she'll always have him seared into her memory and every part of her skin that he has touched.

But this was the path she chose. That was what she told herself as she walked across the sunlit reeds that grew over the hills, following her master and the Light and Sun Waker. He was standing, eyeing her with calm but intense blue eyes. The golden reeds served as a backdrop for his tall frame and his bristly gold hair that turned into light blond under the sun. When she lifted her milk white eyes to him, for a moment they just looked at each other.

There was no resentment in her lovely eyes. She simply looked at him and then lowered her gaze to the ground in resignation and submission. Like a perfect Waker's Pearl.

When Uzumaki turned slightly towards her and watched her, he remembered the night she decided to throw away her dreams and become his.

When the seal on her back burned in wreathes of rose gold flames, her indigo strands of hair blasted up like violet smoke. Her eyes glowed with haunting silver, and that was when Hinata became 'Hyuuga.'

Hinata, the stuttering, shy, and painfully human looking village sweetheart was no more.

The woman with latent strength simmering beneath her eyes and fingertips, with eyes cold as steel-it was Hyuuga.

"It's raining." His gruff voice that usually carried a merry, energetic tone was low and thoughtful.

"I remember how the thousand years of time made the Hyuugas now become 'Hyuga.'"

It was true. The clan where she came from have got rid of the extra syllable, and now her name has become ancient.

"But I don't want you to simply be a relic of the past. I don't want you to think that you were simply a sacrifice of a clan that never loved you."

He lifted his blue eyes and squinted at the dazzling rays of the sun.

"In a country I know, the word 'uu' meant 'rain.'"

She looked at him, confused as to the point of his discourse.

But his low voice cut her.

"You're no longer Sasuke's sun, Hinata."

She flinched at the name she had yet to forget.

"So be my rain."

He turned to her.

"From now on, your name will not be written as 'Hyuuga' from the past. But 'Hyuuga' with the character 'rain.'"

He lifted his finger and traced the Chinese character of "rain" on Hyuuga's left cheek. An orange red painted character of "rain" appeared on her cheek, but the rain smeared the pigment away until it disappeared.

Uzumaki didn't remove his finger. Instead, he held her soft chin.

When his rough, calloused hands wrapped around both sides of her chin, her eyelashes shuddered in response. His chapped lips that had a slight tawny pink color approached her own plush and pleasingly curved ones.

Even though she lowered her eyes to the ground, she cannot close them. A teardrop formed in her left eye as he made a motion to come closer.

Watching her response intently, he finally relented with a sigh and removed his hands from her face. He told himself, 'It will take time.'

Then suddenly both felt the familiar presence of someone with the Uzumaki blood beyond the horizon.

Hyuuga's eyes jerked open in shock, and she stared at the horizon with vigilant concern. Ever since, she re-ignited her pact with Uzumaki as his Waker's pearl, her senses from 5000 years ago returned and she can acutely feel the presence of those who share her master's blood.

Then she heard her master's gruff, calm voice cut down her train of thoughts, "Go, Hyuuga."

She quickly turned to her master, who looked at her seriously.

"I can't let Kabuto or his underling get closer to Sasuke."

Then her master made a rueful smile that made his deep blue eyes look so sad-as if they were brimmed with unshed tears.

Then she realized.

He trusted her to once again go back to him. She looked into his face, wide eyed. Then, she gave him a look of gratitude that soon hardened into a determined nod. Then like lightning in a rain storm, she raced towards Konoha.

* * *

 _Present_

It was dark, in the middle of the night.

Karin coughed as she landed on the bark chip covered soil floor of the forest with a huge 'thud.'

The red haired woman wiped her bleeding chin with the back of her fist and groaned. Her long lashed crimson eyes glared toward the one biggest bane of her existence.

 _Gentle Fist-Twin Lion_

The twin lion fists that were once blue were now shimmering with deep violet flames.

"It's been awhile since I saw that attack. It seems that re-enacting your contract with Uzumaki was successful. Successful enough to empower you," Karin sneered, "aren't you special?"

At her taunting, Hyuuga's facial expression didn't change even a bit. Her glowing pale eyes shone like tiny orbs of spectral fire in the darkness, and the great flames of her twin lion fists caused her soft, long hair to undulate wildly.

When Hyuuga twisted her body to land her final blow upon her opponent, suddenly a giant, mint green serpent shot against her.

Hyuuga's eyes widened in surprise as she barely thwarted the serpent's vicious and powerful attack. But she was still able to detect Karin's impish grin.

'She knew about this,' she realized. She twirled and gracefully landed a few feet back, just in time before she saw the familiar hooded figure of Kabuto stand before Karin.

Kabuto made an unsettling smile, "It seems that you've returned again, Hyuuga san."

Suddenly, uncharacteristically, Hyuuga gathered all her chakra to blast one of the most powerful attacks she can execute as the Waker's Pearl.

 _Protection of the Eight Trigram Sixty Four palms_

In an instant, the giant snake that serenaded both Kabuto and Karin were sliced into six segments as if a series of sharp blades went through its length.

Each segment of the snake's scaley flesh fell onto the ground with a huge thud, causing blood to splash everywhere, including her own face.

But her eyes looked at the decimated remnants of the animal with cold indifference. Meanwhile, Kabuto smirked at Hyuuga's unusual outburst of violent temper.

And he knew that he struck a chord, as exactly as he wanted.

The slight mockery to the way he said her name "Hyuuga" wasn't what caused her temper to flare. It was the same smile that he dared to show her when he took away Sasuke's eyes.

Suddenly, Kabuto's shadow clone appeared right next to her, and without Hyuuga being able to see, a cold, scaly appendage wrapped around her right leg and both of her lion fist enveloped hands.

The shadow clone grinned and bared his claws that shot toward Hyuuga's dilated pupils. "You don't need to worry, Hyuuga san. Your past master's kekkei genkai are safe with me."

Kabuto's original grinned, 'Finally...the Waker's Pearl's byakugan shall also be mine.'

As calmly as she can, she rotated her hips and slammed her free left knee against where she saw the snake embedded into his gut beyond his cloak. He let out a hiss, and when the grip on her wrists and leg slackened, she didn't take her chance and skitted as far away as possible.

When she angrily hardened her pale eyes against the sinister nin, she saw a white cape floating right before her face.

She raised her eyes to see the unexpected- Uzumaki standing before her. The tall, white clad figure of the Light Waker glared at Kabuto who has now revealed his Sage mode. His white cloak fringed with symbols of fire fluttered like giant wings of a descending eagle.

Suddenly, Kabuto's smile went away. Ages of old tradition caused him to slightly nod, an unexpected act of respect that caused even Hyuuga's eyes to widen in disbelief. "First Waker sama."

Uzumaki eyed him squarely and nodded slightly as well, "Kabuto, it's been a while." As if he is talking to an acquaintance he lost touch with for years, he continued, "How you've been?"

"To be honest, I thought I would be better off with both you and Uchiha gone in my life," Kabuto made a bitter smile, "but to think that the Akatsukis sent me onto an unlawful exile…"

Uzumaki's thick bushy brows furrowed, "Are you sure it was 'unlawful,' Kabuto? From what I gathered from Konan and Juugo, it didn't seem so 'unlawful.'" He scratched his whisker marked cheek with his bandage wrapped index finger.

His left brow arched upward as the tall, blond Sun Waker crossed his arms and smirked, "Even before Uchiha killed me and sealed Kurama, you wanted my job badly, didn't you?"

A slight drop of sweat by Kabuto's brow signaled his sudden discomfort. "Umm...Uzumaki sama, that was…"

It seemed that Kabuto was reverting back to being an Akatsuki at the sight of the Light Waker.

When Karin eyed sideways and took her chance to speed towards Konoha, Hyuuga let out an uncharacteristic snarl and darted in the same direction.

Hyuuga swung her leg across the low, crouching Karin, the red haired girl jumped high, avoiding getting kicked.

Without Hyuuga or Karin noticing, there was somebody in their midst witnessing their heated battle.

A pinkette was crouching on a bough of a tree, looking down at the exchanged fists and kicks that caused sparks to fly, "...Hinata?"

When Sakura saw the fight, she couldn't believe her eyes. She felt a spark of chakra, and wondering if it was someone related to the assault of Sasuke, she ventured into the Forest of Death. And what she saw caused her to be speechless.

She called out the name that no longer belonged to the midnight blue haired girl, "Hinata chan!"

At the sound of the name, Hyuuga's eyes widened slightly in pain and recognition, but her brows furrowed as she tried to dispel the sweet memories that threatened to assault her state of mind.

Karin bit her lips in frustration, as she noticed, 'Hyuuga is not letting the name 'Hinata' get to her anymore. This is going to get harder to throw her off guard.'

But when Karin's eyes averted towards Sakura, she stopped still in her attacks, "...Haruno?"

After the initial surprise wore off, Karin smirked and rested her hand on her right hip, "The odds of all of us seeing each other…"

Sakura at first looked at Karin with a bewildered stare, but her big emerald eyes then flit to her Team 7 member.

"Naruto...kun?"

Uzumaki showed a similar response as Hyuuga, but his widened blue eyes narrowed and his face reverted to a familiar, ruefully sad smile. His blue eyes crinkled as he looked at Sakura. A breeze blew by Sakura's pink hair that fluttered across her stunned face.

"Naruto kun…"

Then everyone in the forest heard the approaching sound of the base of a crutch digging in and out of the soil.

 _Pu-k...pu-k…_

When Hyuuga heard the sound, she felt her heart constrict in maddening grief, but her face only showed a hint of surprise.

Kabuto's face showed glee, making her insides lurch in disgust.

And there she saw him, limping on a crutch, bandages wrapped around the left side of his dark head. His bandage wrapped hand covering his empty left eye socket. His right eye showed a blazing red sharingan and the dark tomoes in his iris were spinning. But the sweat on his brow and the way his jaw clenched showed that it took a lot of exertion for him to activate his sharingan. The shoulder supported by the crutch drooped low, as he struggled to maintain his balance on the uneven slopes of the forest ground.

Hyuuga looked at him, with wide pearly eyes that threatened to be spilled with tears at the sight.

But the sight that melted the ice around her heart only made Uzumaki's heart pound like a drum in the battle front.

From the corner of her eyes, she caught the rigid form of her master. Her pale milky eyes widened. There was unresolved anger that bordered on killing intent.

When she noticed her master about to take a step towards the vulnerable man, she quickly forgot about her fight with Karin and stepped towards him.

When Hyuuga sped to his side, her face looking up to him submissively, Uzuamaki stopped in his track.

Her long silky hair fluttered gracefully like a dark angel's wings.

His blue eyes that used to widen in wonder and boyish energy warned Hyuuga. Like a lion's eyes that are looking down at a mouse that dared to block his path.

But she showed him that she wasn't afraid.

Her long, delicate fingers wrapped around her sovereign's large, rough hand that tightened into a trembling fist, placating the anger simmering underneath.

Her ash grey brow furrowed, as she spoke in a tone that was both admonishing and pleading, "Please."

Her light grey eyes reminded him, 'Remember your promise.'

Uzumaki then looked down at her, stunned. Then he looked at Sasuke who stared at both of them in disbelief.

* * *

It was as if Sasuke's mind went blank. He can't even say her name or his best friend's name.

Finally, he got to say her name, "Hina-"

But she interrupted him, "Enough."

She caressed Uzumaki's arm and rested her forehead on his shoulder, refusing to look at him.

"I...had enough. I don't want to be in pain anymore."

His sharingan widened, 'No, this wasn't a genjutsu. This was Hinata…'

The cold, beautiful girl spared him a glance, "I'm sorry, Sasuke kun." Her voice was low and calm, and her eyes that looked at him were hollow and cold.

"You are...just too weak for me."

At her words, he felt a nerve in him snap. Darkness started to envelop his senses. Vaguely, he can hear a woman or two crying out his name-one of them being Sakura's,

But it was one woman's calm, quiet voice that rang the hardest in his ears. As if someone hit him hard in the middle of his diaphragm, blocking his airways.

"You're too weak for me."

* * *

Days passed after Hinata, no Hyuuga left. The frame of the shoji door supported his back that curled like a bow under the weight of his own despair. It was almost the end of summer.

According to Sakura, Sasuke lost consciousness due to his over-exertion of sharingan. Surprisingly, the woman who Sakura thought was a threat to Sasuke showed immediate distress and helped her fight off the silver haired nin who wore glasses. But it was Naruto, if they can still call him 'Naruto' who warded off the nin who attacked Sasuke. Suddenly, the woman who called herself 'Hyuuga' and Naruto, and the strange silver haired nin all disappeared. From her observation, it seemed to be a transportation jutsu, but she has never seen one like that.

Extensive memory examination done by the Anbu and Yamanaka Ino confirmed the case.

Kakashi officially confirmed it in the morning.

Naruto and Hinata have both defected from Konoha, and nobody was to mention their names.

'Karin,' the name of the woman also helped her take him back to Konohan hospital. After helping her, Karin then just disappeared. Nobody knew where she could have went.

But Sasuke didn't tell how someone would mysteriously kill off body modified assassins that target the Uchiha house. Sakura and Kakashi didn't ask either.

What followed for Sasuke was six months of painful recovery. The broken legs only took two months of physical therapy, but implanting the prosthetic arm to his amputated left arm took half an year. Tsunade said that she had yet to see such an unprecedentedly speedy and successful implantation and connection of the severed chakra nerves.

But Tsunade spoke with regret how his left eye is simply a lost cause.

Sakura cried for weeks. But whenever she faced Sasuke, she tried to smile, but her puffy red eyelids would give it away.

Now, Sasuke's physique has almost recovered, but it seemed that it was his heart that hurt even more.

He tried flexing the fingers of his left, artificial hand. There was still a sense of alienness, as if he was grabbing a ball of styrofoam when all he was grasping was thin air. Tsunade and Sakura told him that it might take another six months for the arm to feel completely natural.

But strangely enough, Sasuke, the notorious hothead, just didn't feel anything when he received Tsunade's diagnosis. Even when his friends suggested him to receive the prosthetic arm, he barely made any sign of agreeing to the treatment.

He was passive and lifeless-so unlike the Uchiha Sasuke people knew.

His bowed head caused his dark stray locks that framed his face to fall dejectedly. His hair has grown rather long. There was a fresh bandage wrapped around his left eye, sign of Sakura's continued care. By his left foot on the porch were carelessly laid and scattered documents-property taxes, bills, and the warranty deed that he and Hinata both signed in Kakashi's office.

All of the tax forms and bills had Hinata's signature. The warranty deed of the Uchiha mansion was still notarized with his stamp-the split Uchiha fan, and Hinata's-a smiling sunflower.

Kakashi didn't say it out loud, but both he and Sasuke wondered.

As Sasuke glanced at the papers, he can't help but wonder. _Was this the reason Hinata wanted me to earn the property rights to the Uchiha fortune? So she can wash her hands off and fly away? Since when did she start getting ready to leave? From the time she started coming late at night? From the beginning?_

He can still hear her soft, feathery voice that spoke such cutting words with little affect.

 _I'm sorry, Sasuke kun…_

His fingers that curled around the hilt of kusanagi clenched.

A head of silken blue tresses that moved away from him in disgust-You're _too weak for me._

He whispered her name, "Hinata…" Signs of tiredness framed his right eye that gazed vacantly into the garden that used to be filled with her presence. His right eye was red with swirling tomoes, fringed with dark raven lashes.

His long, pale fingers held the length of kusanagi as delicately as an egg.

No, it looked more as if the sword was slipping from his grasp.

 _You're too weak for me._

"Hinata...why…"

His head fell even lower, his hair casting a dark shadow across his eyes, making his expression unreadable.

It seemed as if his entire body was wrapped with invisible shackles and chains.

As he rose slowly, the tip of his sword dragged along the wooden floor of the porch, like his shadow.

There was no choice, but to let hate fester where affections used to be.

"Too...weak?"

The shock of the blow created a sense of numbness. The numbness was so total in its effect that it caused Sasuke to chuckle in a hollow, heart breaking way. "Too weak for you, Hinata?"

The chuckle died down quickly, and suddenly he eyed the vicinity around him.

The garden where he would see her crouch over and water the seedlings. The courtyard where she picked up the rose petals that accidentally scattered by the wind. The main porch that she would wipe with a moist rag, and the stairs that she would go up for bed.

His dark red eye looked at everything vacantly. Then suddenly the warranty deed that was lying helplessly next to his feet-the piece of paper that told him that now he was the wealthiest man of his age in Konoha-was lit on fire. A tiny orange flame nibbled on the edge of the white paper, and the paper turned into black ribbons. Starting from the paper, tiny flames seeped through the cracks of the hardwood floor as if the wood was oil.

And the entire Uchiha mansion was wreathed in flames.

A pillar of smoke rose from the burning Uchiha mansion.

The fact that the fire only decimated the Uchiha property alerted the hokage that this was an act of someone's jutsu, not an accident.

The shinobis who excelled in water form tried to bring down the fire, but the flames have already swallowed up the mansion.

Nobody saw the wealthiest young man in Konoha.

* * *

A/N: I know, I know, it is way too short. But sorry, I've just been way too tired and exhausted by this summer, and I am feeling like this story is going way too slow. Please review this story, and I might feel encouraged to continue. I really want to do my best with this story, but man, is it tough.


	29. Waker’s Pearl ch29

A/N: Just to let you know, I updated my last chapter and added some details. The biggest new detail is that Sasuke has a prosthetic arm attached, unlike the canon. Thanks! And yay, 6K word count!

Warning: hinted forced sexual scenes

* * *

It was like she was back to the time she saw him writhing in pain at the cliff, roaring in anger at her betrayal.

The cursed sense of helplessness and inability to explain what is in her heart. How she wanted to rush to his side and do anything in her power to comfort him.

But the best she could do was to stand back and watch Sakura and Karin rush to him when he lost consciousness. They could be where she wanted to be so desperately. She envied them so much.

She saw him peer at her through bleeding eyes, but all she could do was look back at him apathetically and turn away.

But when she fully turned and started walking away, her ears picked up on his struggling breath, "Hina..."

She paused in her step, as she felt her heart accelerating, but she started walking briskly, as if she was running away.

But ripping through the air, his cry reached her, "HINATA!"

Tears filled her enlarged pale eyes to the brim as she felt as if somebody punched a hole into her chest. But she bit on her lips, enough to draw blood as she quickened her steps. Seeing her in pain caused Uzumaki's face harden in a scowl; the whites of his eyes darkened, and his entire face contorted in harsh, grim anger.

He raised his arm and pulled her tiny frame to his side and squeezed her, just enough for her to not feel any pain but to communicate his possessiveness.

"He's always been so selfish," she heard him grit through his teeth like a feral animal. Hyuuga has ALWAYS belonged to him. HE, Uzumaki Naruto was the one to make her his Waker's Pearl when he chose Haruno instead. HE was the one who shared half of his kyuubi to her, so he could protect her. But what did Uchiha do? What he had done to Kabuto to bring Hinata back only came back to both himself and her, tenfold. What goes around ultimately comes around.

But his iron grip on her shoulder felt her trembling. He heard her airy voice full of sorrow.

"I...I hurt Sasuke... I hurt him..."

Tears poured down from her eyes as she felt the bitter ice surround her chest that wanted to burst into flames. Cold, bitter rain fell on her shoulder and head into fat droplets. Uzumaki covered her head with his white cloak and they kept walking away.

When they were some distance away from the Konohans, Hyuuga pushed herself away from her master. But Uzumaki let out a low snarl as he gritted his teeth and possessively locked the indigo haired woman to his side. He tried to enwrap her body with his waterproof cloak, away from the showering rain.

"NO!" She cried as she pushed him away with both hands, "NO!"

She stood still under the rain, feeling the water stream down on her head, intertwining with her own tears. Her wet bangs matted to her forehead, and she looked and felt like a drowned puppy.

For the longest time, she didn't know she would be, but here she was. She was angry.

"You," she trembled, not because of the chilly air but anger and pain, "you didn't have to...be so cruel." Her voice was low, and the way she said each word was pronounced, even, and dignified. But her anger was there. It was palpable.

He looked down at her, his blue eyes widened in hurt and then narrowing into an animalistic scowl. He asked her, "How was I cruel, Hyuuga?"

When she looked at him in disbelief, he crossed his arms, "The only reason I didn't beat the shit out of him for sealing me and Kyuubi away for all these years was you. If I had my way, I would never forgive him for what he did to you when..." He paused.

It was a long pause. A pause so loud it made Hyuuga feel uneasy.

"Uzumaki sama," Hyuuga looked at him surprised, "what did...what do you mean?"

At first Uzumaki didn't seem to want to talk. But he relented.

"When he knocked me unconscious and tortured me till I was passed out in the prison, I still held a string of consciousness, Hyuuga."

He finally faced her, "I remember everything. And Kyuubi let me see what he did to you."

Color seemed to completely drain from her face.

 _(f)It was damp and so hot in the prison when Hyuuga tried to save her master who was lying in a vegetated state over the prison floor. She cradled his head on her lap and bowed her head over his half-unconscious face. It was when Uchiha allowed her ten minutes of relative privacy with her master, on the condition that she will do anything for her golden boy's life. By the frame of the exit door, Uchiha was standing, his arms crossed as he looked at the little woman sitting by the side of her master in the jail cell._

 _"Hmph" she caught his jaw between her delicate fingers and breathed air into his lips and lungs. She didn't notice the stormy look on Uchiha's face that Uzumaki witnessed at the periphery of his vision. His long dark hair cast an ominous shadow over his eyes that stared impassively at the two. As absurd and hilarious as he might sound, Uzumaki actually found his rival's state rather pitiful. Here was the one girl who Uzumaki knew was Uchiha's safe harbor, but she was too busy turning her back to him, resuscitating his enemy with kisses. Kisses that she wouldn't even give him even though he figuratively knelt down before her and begged her to marry him. Only to have her betray him in the worst way possible by pushing him to near death. As much as Uchiha hated her, he couldn't turn his eyes away from her like a love starved puppy._

 _Sometimes he hated how well he could read Uchiha's feelings._

 _Uzumaki's blue eyes seemed half focused and dimmer than usual, but his senses were still sharp. He was sure he looked worse than he actually was. He couldn't feel his face, and it didn't take a genius to figure out that his face must be covered with purple marks and cut bruises. He could hardly open his eyes cause he got a black eye on both._

 _When he was able to refocus his gaze, he felt a water drop fall on his left cheek. He adjusted his focus and looked up._

 _It was Hyuuga, her beautiful eyes brimming with tears as she looked down at him with a sweet smile. He could vaguely trace her dimples that would form when she smiles like that, showing her teeth. The light was directly above her head, so her face was cast in shadows, but there was no denying the gleam of hope and relief that radiated from her sweet face. But his damn vision kept getting blurry and refocused, on and off again. If only he could see her clearly._

 _"Waker sama," her tearful voice was filled with relief and elation, "Waker sama, I'm so glad-"_

 _His blue eyes widened as he felt another tear fall on his cheek. He felt her soft caresses on his face, "Hyuuga..."_

 _When everyone else, including the Akatsukis, stabbed him in the back, Uzumaki didn't have any hope. That anyone would come to his rescue. He gave up that anyone would still be loyal for him and risk Uchiha's cruel retribution._

 _But here she was-Hyuuga, his Waker's Pearl whom he knew that Uchiha couldn't get enough of. If she said just a single word, Uchiha would be wrapped around her delicate pinkie finger. But no, she came to save him, willing to make herself the object of the Second Waker's ire if it meant bringing him back to life._

 _"Hyuuga..." How had he not noticed what a gem he was with? More tears started to drop on his face. He made a sad, rueful smile. What a jerk he was for making his dear Waker's Pearl cry. He reached out his unsteady hand and cupped her cheek. Her sob worsened. His poor treasure._

 _"Waker sama," she quickened her tone, "there is not enough time." She pulled out a little pouch from the inner pocket of her wrap shirt, "I've brought some rice balls-"_

 _"Hyu-"_

 _She hurriedly stuffed herself with a bit of rice ball and hunched over him once again, silencing him effectively. Feeling her soft lips on his again, he froze._

 _His right hand that was about to reach to her, grab her shoulder, and tell her to run away as fast as she can, stopped in mid air._

 _Then his hand grabbed her slender arm and he pulled himself closer to her for dear life. He felt her wince at the sudden pressure of his fingers on her shoulder, but she didn't push him away. She was intoxicating, beautiful._

 _But when she separated herself from him after feeding him, he saw, to his disappointment, no sort of amorous blush in her cheeks or nervousness in her eyes that he used to see. No matter how much he would wish it was not true, Hyuuga was simply acting out of fierce loyalty and protectiveness as his subordinate and compassion._

 _"Waker sama-" her lips smiled, but her eyes were so deep and sad. It pained her to see him in so much pain, but she struggled to look strong and cheerful._

 _But her eyes widened and her smile dissipated when she felt a large shadow looming over her and the man she was cradling._

 _A voice that could deceive others as cool and smooth echoed behind them, "I hate to interrupt the lovers' adjourn, but-"_

 _He hadn't noticed that Uchiha stepped into the cell. But he saw the tall, swarthy man grab Hyuuga's slender arm and roughly jerk her up._

 _Uzumaki groaned as he unceremoniously rolled off and hit where he got attacked on the floor._

 _Hyuuga cried, "Waker sama!" Meanwhile, Uchiha looked down at his struggle apathetically, while still maintaining his iron grip on Hyuuga._

 _She looked up to him and helplessly clawed at his hand that was holding her hostage, "Please," she begged, "he's still so hurt."_

 _Uchiha snarled at her, a face that was half a glare, half a malicious smirk, "Our deal was ten minutes." He then started dragging her to the opened door of the cell, "Now it's time for YOUR end of the deal."_

 _"No," she shook her head and begged, "please."_

 _When Uchiha grabbed her wrist in an iron grip and dragged her close to the exit door, Hyuuga resisted and kept turning back, crying, "Waker sama!"_

 _"Let...her...go, Uchiha." Uzumaki tried to raise his voice, but it came out as a hoarse, sickly whisper. But he got what he wanted. Uchiha stopped._

 _He turned his cold dark eyes that blared with the sharingan at his prisoner._

 _Uzumaki continued, "you...know...that Hyuuga didn't...do anything." He tried to raise himself up on his elbows, but he was sure he looked like shit, "So let her go. It's between you and me."_

 _As if Uzumaki's attempt to free her was pathetic, Uchiha made a mocking smirk. "How touching. As if I'm the villain. Just yesterday, you had me groveling at both of your feet, after I pathetically asked your Waker's Pearl to accept my mother's gift." His cold gaze shifted to Hyuuga who squirmed under his grasp and averted her eyes in fear and shame._

 _"So, this does involve your Waker's Pearl," and he resolutely turned away from him as he held Hyuuga's wrist, "And I have plenty to discuss with her."_

 _"Waker sama," Hyuuga looked back at Uzumaki tenderly, forcing a smile on her lips, "I'll be okay. So please don't worry-"_

 _But the minute he heard Hyuuga speak to his prisoner, the jailer's thin strand of sanity snapped and he activated his bloodline limit._

 _When Uzumaki saw the swirls on Uchiha's eyes, he felt a heavy weight over his head and he fell face flat on the cold stone mortar. The impact was enough to break his nose although he braced himself by gritting his teeth._

 _"Waker sama..." Hyuuga's voice was breathless. Then she raised her voice as she renewed her struggles, "Waker sama, Waker sama!" When her struggles to free herself became wilder, Uchiha gracefully lunged at her and rounded her up in his arm. Her petite size and lack of physical strength compared to the Wakers caused her to be easily wrapped and immobilized by his arm. Compared to Hyuuga, Uchiha had the size and strength of a bear. She jerked forward a couple times to free herself, but Uchiha bit his lips and applied pressure on her body and wrist that he caught in his grasp. Finally she bowed her head and sobbed when she realized that her struggles were pointless. Her long indigo hair fell like silk, and Uchiha looked down at her with unreadable eyes. She was as good as a butterfly in a spider's web._

 _That night, Kyuubi allowed him a glimpse of what was happening to his Waker's Pearl. Even though the demonic fox warned him that he should conserve on his energy._

 _In the globe of vision Kyuubi created, Uzumaki saw the tall, dark haired man drag the petite woman along the hallway by the wrist. He was taking her somewhere._

 _Hyuuga was no longer crying, but the tear marks on her cheeks made her look even more sullen. She said calmly as she stared straight ahead, "I do not wish to be alone with you."_

 _Uchiha's lips twisted in anger as he stopped in his tracks and glared at her wildly. No doubt, the Second Waker was angered by not only the First Waker's Pearl's insubordination but her audacity, ordering him around as if she is the queen. She was probably the only person in the world who could make demands at her imprisoned state and get away with it. Uchiha remained still with his icy, suffocating silence._

 _But still he tsk'd and obliged her wishes by opening the tall, gilded door to the main hall where they would be alone but the space was not private enough for her to fear him._

 _That was at least what Uzumaki hoped for. That Uchiha wouldn't dare to hurt her in such a public setting._

 _They seemed to be arguing in the throne room; he couldn't exactly hear what their quarrels because his energy was waning dangerously, but they were fighting._

 _But the minute he saw, through Kyuubi's lenses, Uchiha pinning her on his very own ivory chair with his body, his hopes were dashed to the ground into million pieces._

 _Through Kyuubi's abilities, he could hear Hyuuga's cries as she beat Uchiha's broad, dark back with her tiny fists. Tears were streaming down her lovely face._

 _Her feet dangled on the side as Uchiha savagely thrusted his pelvis towards her, grunting like an animal._

 _Trying to balance his brutal thrusts, Uchiha gripped the edge of the tall ivory chair and kept pushing onto poor Hyuuga. He shuddered at the pleasure that shot through his body as he grinded against her, his breath roughening and eyes heated._

 _Uzumaki couldn't believe it. He at least thought that Uchiha had some honor. He even knew the bare details of what he went through to kill Orochimaru, steal his secrets to kill Itachi, and become the Second Waker. But here, he was attacking the very person he claimed to love._

 _Hyuuga couldn't bear to look at her assailant in the eye. She averted her face and closed her eyes._

 _"No...please..." she panted and turned her face away. Her lips were blood red and she was at loss, at heat, "ah...ha..ha..." Seeing this, Uzumaki felt his mouth turn dry._

 _Uchiha smirked._

 _"You like this, Hyuuga? Would you be able to forget me after this?" He taunted her, rubbing against her till she was close to losing consciousness._

 _He sneered as he continued his powerful hip thrusts, "I would kill to see the dobe react...to seeing his Waker's Pearl defiled on his chair."_

 _Uzumaki never felt as helpless and useless then. He bowed down on his knees and beat the earth with his fists. When all he could see was Hyuuga struggling to no avail and not be able to save her._

 _He saw Uchiha run his fingers in her dark hair and grip a hand full of her shiny locks. He then ran his lips across her jawline and roughly forced a kiss, if that could even be called a kiss._

 _When Hyuuga lifted her hand to slap him, he caught her wrist and dug his tongue even deeper into her groaning mouth._

 _He heard him murmur, "mine, Hyuuga...mine."_

 _It was beyond Uzumaki as to why Uchiha would do such a thing. Didn't Uchiha take care of Hyuuga since she was little? How could someone he once viewed as a friend do such dastardly thing to someone like Hyuuga? Didn't he love her?_

 _He dug his fingers deep into his lap, enough to draw blood._

 _That was when he heard Uchiha's voice, "Send my regards to Kurama."_

 _Uzumaki's eyes widened and a small vein ticked on his jaw. The bastard knew. Knew that he was watching all along in mind numbing helplessness._

 _That moment, his eyes flared deep red and he couldn't control himself. The bright sunshiny Naruto was quickly incinerated into ashes that turned into shards that sharpened his appetite for revenge. His inner demons started to consume him. (f)_

Uzumaki looked down at her, "And then he sealed me for five thousand years. All I could do was to wait. Wait for you."

He grabbed her arm and pulled her into his embrace. He coddled her as he nuzzled his jaw against her soft, feathery hair, "And he was so obsessed with you that he purposely timed your recovery with his reincarnation. I didn't know that such thing was even possible, but he did. That selfish, obsessed bastard."

"Hyuuga," his blue eyes turned whimsical, "I might be selfish, but...don't call me, 'cruel.'" He pulled her deeper into his chest, nuzzling her with his nose, "I had enough. I'm not letting him put you in danger because of his selfishness again."

Hyuuga couldn't say anything. She could only remain rooted in her master's embrace.

"Give me a freaking chance, Hyuuga" He whispered, "I swear I won't make you unhappy or ask more from you than what you're unwilling to give."

Hyuuga didn't say anything for a while. And then she grabbed his sleeves, "Please...please...keep your promise." Her voice no longer sounded tearful, but somehow it was sadder.

The rain kept soaking through his shoulders and blond hair. He knew that she meant his promise to not exact his revenge from Sasuke. He closed his eyes and laid his cheek sideways on her head.

"I promise."

He didn't have to do more to hurt Sasuke. Taking Hinata back was enough of a punishment. He didn't need to do anymore.

* * *

Getting ready for Uzumaki's grand return to the Realm took a lot of time and effort for the Akatsukis and of course, Waker's Pearl Hyuuga. There was the public opinion to persuade, uprisings to quell, and reformation to happen.

The grand senators of the Realm gathered around the golden ruler, "Uzumaki sama, the Second Waker's place has been empty for too long."

"Uzumaki sama, there are rebels who are claiming their right to the Second Wakership. Please attend to these warfares."

"Uzumaki sama"

"Uzumaki sama"

"Uzumaki sama"

Hyuuga was getting incensed at how the senators just won't take her master's answer "No, I won't install a Second Waker."

'Why are they vying for the position of the Second Waker, when they can't do their own jobs right?' She remembered her master saying in frustration when they were alone.

"My lords-"

The minute she tried to step in, Uzumaki laid his broad, manly hand on her shoulder. "That will do" he said as he smiled warmly at the senators, but in a somewhat intimidating manner.

When the senators left, Uzumaki and Hyuuga were alone in the main courtyard. The breeze was cooling, gathering their flowy robes together.

 _Thump-_ Uzumaki laid his fuzzy gold head on Hyuuga's left shoulder. The disparity between their heights caused him to bend over, so he could lay his forehead on her.

Hyuuga merely stood still and said nothing. She could smell her Master and feel his quietly undulating breathing.

She clenched her eyes shut as in pain, as she heard him trying to gather his breath and his poise. He was the Golden Waker, the Sun. No weakness could come from him.

And her master's business also effected Hyuuga.

"I owe you too much," he finally said in a low, steady voice. For a long time, there was always a twinge of regret in his voice. That regret has been there since he forced her to break her bond and come back to him. But the regret wasn't strong enough for him to let her go.

Hyuuga smiled gently and shook her head, "No...I prefer to be busy, Waker sama."

And it was true. She was surprised to find that the weeks of craziness have actually came as a source of relief. When she was busy, she didn't have to think about the dark-eyed handsome she left behind. She didn't have to miss how he would smile down at her, one of his rare genuine smiles, or when he would raise an eyebrow and smirk at her when he is amused by her response to his sarcastic comments. When she was busy, she didn't have to keep on replaying what he used to say to her, things that made her heart leap and warmth flow throughout her body. When she was busy, she didn't have to think such things.

Except sometimes...times she can't help but open the little treasure chest she stored in her heart and take a little peek. Like a child looking into her treasure she had hidden somewhere.

* * *

Konan was running somewhere, looking left and right. She stopped a maid who was passing by.

"Do you know where Hyuuga sama is?"

The maid who was detained by her arm looked startled, "Hyu-Hyuuga sama is in the main kitchen, Konan sama. She is preparing for the First Waker sama's afternoon treat-red bean soup."

Konan released the maid and rushed to the kitchen hall.

She flung the wide wooden door open, "Hyuuga sama"

A long haired woman was sipping delicately from the ladle she raised to her lips. She kept eyeing the content of her sooty black cauldron. She then looked at the violet eyed intruder, her doll-like expression betraying nothing, "Konan san." Hyuuga actually looked a little surprised. She was supposed to be dismissed from her official duties for the day. Feeling bad for how overworked she was since they returned, her master had decreed that she be temporarily relieved of her Waker's Pearl job, for at least the weekend holiday.

"Hyuuga sama, I have some serious news."

Hyuuga, still holding the ladle, faced Konan. Konan looked at her superior in the face, squarely.

"A strong presence is felt to be approaching the portals that connect the Realm and the mortals' territory."

Expectation caused Hyuuga to speak fast, "Is it Kabuto?"

Her opal eyes lit up, 'finally, I could have my hands on Karin.' How she had bid for the moment to have her revenge on those two. May she be reborn again and again, but she will never forgive Karin.

But all she could do was patiently wait for the snake and the red head to approach her on their own, in the Realm where she is the most powerful.

But Konan's face turned strange. As if Hyuuga was sleep-talking.

"No, Hyuuga sama."

"It is your past master, Uchiha Sasuke." Konan took a deep breath, "He has been on a rampage against the portals to the Realm."

"No," her face turned pale like a sheet of paper, "there is no way he could have figured out those portals on his own."

She clenched her fists, looking at Konan as if she was expecting her to say that there was some mistake in this information.

But instead, Konan bowed, "There is no error in the intelligence the Akatsukis have gathered, Hyuuga sama. You may see for yourself."

Then Konan turned, leaving Hyuuga alone in the kitchen.

* * *

The First Waker was dozing in indolent bliss under the frocks of peacocks that gathered in Hyuuga's private garden. He had been looking for Hyuuga but decided that he could just take a nap along with her pets that she dotted on. When things began to tone down and Uzumaki's position reached some stability, Hyuuga made it a habit to disappear from others' eyes. He decided that he could just wait. The breeze was nice, and he was half asleep in bliss.

Then he heard a maid's slight quarrel with his Waker's Pearl.

"Hyuuga sama, you must not disrupt the Waker's peace-"

"I have something urgent to ask my sovereign"

He turned his head to her and smiled. An undeniably charming smile. Hyuuga was dressed in a simple light purple wrap shirt and khaki pants that were slightly baggy.

"Hyuuga, I thought you were on a break."

"Uzumaki sama," "Sa-" she paused, and then continued, "Uchiha is reported to have defected from Konoha and been on the periphery of the Realm"

Uzumaki at first stared at her with an unreadable expression and closed his eyes.

Hyuuga stared at him.

"You...knew?"

"Waker sama," she tried to calm down, but it seemed futile, "I thought you said Uchiha will have nothing to do with the Realm again."

"I said that I will no longer deal with Uchiha personally." "But if he comes forth to deal with me, I will not stop him."

"How is Uchiha able to reach the portals? Did he recover his-"

"Hyuuga," he stared at her squarely as he lied down on his back. His voice was firm.

"We both know that it is impossible for Uchiha to ever become what he was again."

He lowered his gaze as he turned his head away.

"So I don't want you to start getting...new ideas."

 _Ideas like...going back to him._

He looked at her once again.

"Remember when you told Sasuke that he was too weak?"

She nodded.

"You did your best. Because that was the only way that would make Sasuke hate you. And hate me."

Anger and hopelessness caused Hyuuga's opal eyes to flash deadly white.

Surprised by the way she lost hold of her temper, Hyuuga paused. But Uzumaki didn't look stunned. Somehow, seeing his calm, stoic visage made Hyuuga wilt in shame. Further sinking feelings of hopelessness caused the Waker's Pearl to furrow her brows and turn her face away bitterly.

"I had to push him away-"

Uzumaki toned down the harshness of his tone. He didn't mean to sound accusatory.

"Hyuuga. This has to do with the late Second Waker, Itachi."

When she looked at him confused, he continued

"As you would know, Itachi sama was his brother."

"That was the way Itachi encouraged him to be strong enough to be where he was. Telling him he didn't have enough hate in his heart. That he was too weak."

Realization struck her like a boulder.

Tears brimmed in her opal eyes.

"I...I didn't know. I didn't..."

She covered her face.

"I...just wanted Sasuke to...detest me. And forget about me. That was all I could think at the moment to repel him."

In a moment, he approached her, his gait light and steady like air.

He held her close to his chest.

"He's either going to want to speak to you for one last time or...kill you."

* * *

 _The golden desert of some continent whose name is unknown_

A tall man with a protective head scarf and a sword on his belt bowed respectfully before an entourage. "Huda sama, for today, nobody has crossed the desert. You're safe to travel."

Long bejeweled fingers caressed a plush ostrich fan. A smirk played across painted lips.

So called the "Midas of the Sun" for her wealth and mercantile skills, Huda was enjoying the shade of her portable tent on the back of her favorite elephant.

Huda was a mere orphan girl who seduced and married a wealthy merchant with her beauty and guile. After her elderly husband died, she forcibly took over his business and accumulated further wealth by using military force to monopolize the desert's trade path.

Of course, being a woman of her status, she was escorted by her own infantry armed with the most durable and light weaponry that money can buy. Towering over the tallest men she recruited for her safety, she watched over her empire-the desert itself. Not even a single scorpion could pass the deserts without her approval.

Fanning herself with her ostrich fan, she surveyed the endless gold planes. Then something caught her eye.

Reaching out her fan, she commanded her carriage to stop. Her gorgeous plumes of dark eyelashes fluttered as she watched the figure with eyes of a hawk.

In the burning heat where air seemed to undulate, a tall figure swathed in monotonous wraps was walking past the Suna deserts. Judging by the tall figure and shoulder breadth, she was able to tell that the traveller was a man. One by one, the man's feet stooped in the grainy sand, but he kept trudging forward.

Huda frowned. Her entourage gasped. Her handmaiden trembled, "But Huda sama, just a while ago, the messenger has said that nobody has infiltrated through your post guards."

Huda was especially disturbed. It irked her that a mere person has successful evaded the security barricade she has set up in the periphery of her desert. What was even more bizarre was they were thousands of miles away from her nearest post. For herself and her entourage, they have travelled for two weeks already. But the man seemed to have barely any luggage-no jugs of water, no beef jerky. The man clearly had no camel. But it was impossible, even godless to think that a man could elude her hundreds of men she stationed around the borderline and be walking through the desert.

Then, to everyone's surprise, the man stopped a few feet away from the lead of her entourage. A soldier ran towards him. They seemed to exchange a few words.

The soldier ran back and knelt before her, "The stranger says that he means no harm and that he is looking for someone, my lady."

"Who?"

"A young woman in her early 20s, pale skinned, dark hair with a sheen of purple or indigo, with strange milk white eyes, my lady."

Huda quirked her eyebrow. She was becoming even more intrigued. 'A man, risking his life through the hostile desert and her men, to find a woman? Interesting...'

Now that the man was closer, Huda can see the dark hair underneath his grey head wrap and peer into his right eye. Interestingly, his left eye was covered by the head wrap.

Her chief guard commanded the others, "Seize him! He might be a spy or an assassin!"

But Huda raised her voice, "No!"

Her chief guard turned to her, "Huda sama!"

She covered her mouth with her ostrich fan, "Bring me down to the ground. I want to take a closer look at his face."

"No, Huda sama-"

She raised her voice even higher, "Didn't you hear what I say? I want to see that man's face!"

At his mistress's wrath, the chief guard promptly shut up and made a signal to the guards around her elephant.

Her satin slippers stepped gently on the gold sand. She stepped towards the man. The man seemed to make no movement. Everyone around her hushed.

Curiosity got the better of her and she raised her hand to pull down the drape of his shawl that masked his face, 'Such beautiful eye...' she thought.

But in an instant, the man's obsidian eye flashed bright red as an angry brow narrowed at her insolent hand.

Huda gasped and retracted her hand, 'Such powerful energy...' It made her shiver in fear and also anticipation. She didn't recall any man or woman who has made her feel this way.

The soldiers encircled the man and pointed their swords and spears at him.

The chief guard commanded, "Pull down your mask!"

The man seemed to contemplate for a moment. Everyone wondered if the man was planning to be disobedient despite the peril he was in. Then he raised his right hand and hooked his finger inside his mask and pulled it down, revealing his face.

Seeing his face, everyone couldn't make a single sound.

Only Huda, the person closest to the stranger, could hear her own heart thumping.

"Foreigner," breathless, Huda uttered, "I want you."

Her words were like the sound of horns ringing through everyone's ears, waking them up.

But the man who revealed his face said nothing, looking more or less bored and indifferent to the beauty's desire.

Thinking that he simply didn't know who she was, she introduced herself, "My name is Huda. I am called the 'queen of the desert' for my power and wealth."

At first, Huda thought that she saw the man's dark eyes widen slightly at the mention of her name. But she saw his shoulder relax and a cold mask of indifference and wary guardedness settle on his face again.

"Do you not know me?" she asked dumbfounded.

The man was silent for a moment. Then he said rather dismissively, "I thought it was the name I was searching for." But there was a noticeable bitterness to the way his shapely lips twisted into a slight frown.

But Huda was too mesmerized by the man's face that his words went straight through her head.

Fluttering her infamous eyes that shot through rulers and men's souls, she enticed him, "Would you like to come to my palace?"

Every man, and even some woman, opened their mouths, slack jawed. To come to Lady Huda's palace? It was a dream that was long considered impossible unless one was reborn in a next life as a prince. If the handsome stranger continues to hold Lady Huda's interest, he might even be one of her husbands who live in her harem. And if Lady Huda bears the stranger's son? Then the stranger can practically live, without a day's work, sitting on a pile of money. It was an opportunity once in a lifetime.

A snort. "Queen of nothing," the man uttered in a magnetic, deeply husky voice, "I have nothing to do with you."

At the handsome man's contempt, everyone froze. Huda was shocked. Then she frowned.

The stranger stared back into Huda's eyes for a moment and then lowered his gaze to the ground as he pulled up his mask.

Then he passed by her side.

Huda finally came to her senses. She swirled and cried, "Stranger, stop!"

But the man kept walking away, without even glancing back at her.

Not knowing that she was getting on the stranger's nerves, she called to him, "Where are you going? There's going to be a sandstorm tonight!"

"I'll manage," he uttered in a monotonous voice.

"Stranger, who are you looking for?"

She was now concerned. He was too beautiful to be crazy! "You don't have any idea what you're getting yourself into!"

"Then," he turned slightly and his lips drew back, in a way that is both dangerous and charming "do you intend to follow?"

The effect of that smile was electrifying. Huda stopped.

The man turned. He kept walking, and what seemed to be in a few minutes, he disappeared into the raging winds of sand.

* * *

It was dark at night when he managed to scale the rocky walls of the cliff and find himself shelter in a small narrow cave. Rain soaked to his bones and his cloak.

He rested his back on the stony wall of the cave and touched his left arm as if he is feeling some ache.

Then he heard a slight buzz of a chakra signal. He groaned.

Sasuke snapped

"Sakura, I said I didn't want to talk about it."

 _Sasuke kun, please-come back._

He hung up. It has been happening a lot these days. Since Sakura magically 'recovered' her memories and some of her powers, she had been tapping onto her newfound ability to speak to him through chakra waves. It was annoying.

 _I... I got back my memories as the Waker's Pearl shortly after my battle with Hyuuga. But I don't care about power, Sasuke. I just want you._

That was what Sakura said after she got back her memories. Apparently, Sakura tried to stop Hyuuga and demanded an explanation. Hyuuga nailed her down with a chakra barrier technique and that supposedly triggered Sakura's subconscious memories. Bla bla bla memories. Bla bla bla Waker's Pearl powers.

But he couldn't understand. Why was it that everyone else around him seemed to share some secret past that he cannot be privy to.

Why was he, alone, not able to unlock these so-called powers of the past life? Naruto did. Hinata did. Even Sakura, who didn't expect herself to be involved in such way, recovered her powers and memories. It was so unfair. Suddenly, the unfairness of the situation crashed onto him like rocks.

He, alone, was in stalemate. He, who is most desperate to have power, is at a standstill. While, Naruto, who didn't have such ambition, became like a deity and took away the only girl who didn't annoy him and made his heart move. While Sakura, who has no interest in running after Naruto, is even more powerful than him. The irony was so hurtful that it made him laugh.

With that in mind, Sasuke settled into uncomfortable sleep.

Then he felt a print of a finger on his forehead.

When he squinted his eyes open in irritation, he frowned.

That same darn man again

"Hey you," Sasuke snarled. "When are you stop coming into my dreams?"

The dark haired, tall man stared at him as he crouched over to meet him at an eye level. He was actually pretty good looking despite the deep tearline marks beneath his eyes that made him look older than he ought to be.

The man narrowed his impressions dark eyes at him, "Hello to you as well."

He smiled, "foolish little brother."


	30. Chapter 30

A/N: I'm...applying for a grad school program...(Tears) Any encouragement would be great. Thank you TT TT

* * *

He could recognize the places the tall, pony tailed man with slanted ruby eyes was taking him.

Even though the logical side of Sasuke knew that it was a genjutsu, he was spooked by how real this illusion was. The smell. The touch of the soft breeze.

It was as if the man transported him to the past where they were both outsiders to the Kidnapper Hinata and young Sasuke.

Although he should know better, Sasuke doubted himself as he wasn't sure if the genjutsu was reality and the Hinata he knew until now was simply a fantasy.

And he hated the tall, mystery man all the more for inflicting such elaborate mind fuck on him.

Now, they were in the same valley where he would follow Hinata, down to the Konoha village after their training.

The very same sunflower strewn valley where he first saw her in the little purple marble, asleep in the orb with kusanagi in her hands.

That was where they used to train.

When he was little, just a teen, he would see Hinata walking ahead, in the narrow dirt trail across the long green grass and purple milkweed flowers.

The golden sunlight would hit her head, illuminating her hair into a strange color of rum violet.

When she would stop and look back, he would get embarrassed of getting caught staring and avert his gaze and shove his hands deep into his pockets.

But when she would turn around and continue her way, he would surreptitiously look at her again from the corner of an eye.

The breeze blew across his dark hair that framed his handsome face, and he stared at her with a forlorn look in his eyes, as if seeing her itself drugged him.

Now the tall, dark haired adult screamed at her form that walked away distantly, "Why? Why did you do that?"

He was never the articulate type, and he wasn't planning to be one anytime soon.

She didn't answer. She kept walking away, as if he didn't exist. The stars started to appear, strewn over the dark sky.

Full of pent up rage, he cried like a wounded animal, "Hinata!"

But when he would charge against Hinata with kusanagi, the scenery would break into colorful shards,

revealing the tall, pony tailed man with bright red sharingan, standing before him with a distant expression.

The sun would set, and the blue sky would be streaked with orange red clouds.

But where he remembered Hinata being, there was the tall, pony tailed man, wearing a dark cloak with patterned red swirling goblets.

The man would stare back at him with these eyes that seem to feel nothing. But still he could feel a sense of...dare he say, pity?

Sasuke shivered, his hand clenching on the hilt of his sword, trembling in fury and rage. He seemed to be struggling to contain his rage, but miserably he was failing.

Sasuke would scream, yell, whip his kusanagi against him, but he would evade the blow with as little motion as possible. Sasuke attacked the man as if he was the root of all he was going through.

After a few hours, the man had to pull out his kunais and exchange blows with Sasuke.

When Sasuke would collapse in exhaustion, panting furiously yet still struggling to stand up, he would vanish. And invite Sasuke over to another scene of his life with Hinata.

Like when he saw her running across the courtyard, her long dark hair and apron fluttering in the summer air as she tried to catch the rose petals she was making rose water with.

When she got a tension head ache and gave him a silent treatment when his fourteen year old self attacked Naruto's sensei, the grey haired senju for patting her ass.

Like when they were walking across the streets of Konoha. When he first grabbed her hand and later asked her, "This is okay, right?"

How she hesitated slightly before smiling at him warmly, with a blush on her face, "Yes." And bowing her head quickly to hide her burning cheeks.

Sasuke had no earthly idea how this man was able to replicate all this to a chilling precision. But there was no denying that he wanted to escape this.

It was pain. It was torture. For what felt like forever, this man has been repeating various scenes of his daily life with Hinata. Except there was no Hinata.

There was just him and the strange man, instead.

"Why are you doing this to me?" He screamed at the man's face.

"What do you want from me?"

"Explain to me. Who are you? Is this a genjutsu?"

When he was done lashing out at the man to no avail, he slumped down on the ground. The scene of nature changed into a room. He felt the slightly waxy texture of a wooden floor beneath his feet and hands, but he refused to raise his head from the crook of his arm. Instead of the cool, balmy breeze of the mountains, a warm, slightly humid air touched his ear. But Sasuke didn't raise his head. He was exhausted.

But his eyes jerked open as soon as he heard a soft, whispery voice that carried her laughter, "You could cook?"

He slowly lifted his dark, shadow rimmed eyes from his sleeves.

In front of him, he saw the back of Hinata, an apron around her waist, standing in front of the kitchen sink. Her long hair was tied back with a black, elastic band, falling like a stream of black ink over her back.

She was barefoot, except for the soft beige slippers that were way oversized.

But this time, there wasn't a younger, happier version of Sasuke. All he could see was Hinata.

"Hinata..." he couldn't help but utter her name breathlessly. It was almost as if she was speaking to him. He, who always was in the background, yelling and screaming at the air.

She slightly tilted her face toward his direction, but he couldn't fully see her face.

He saw her long dark lashes fluttering, and her round cheeks rising as in a smile. She asked again, "Could you cook?"

His heart started beating like crazy as he stared at her, his mouth slightly open.

At that moment, he remembered something he repressed in his mind for a long time. Since she betrayed his trust. Since the betrayal.

 _It was right before the cherry blossom festival when Hinata opened her eyes wide and asked him, "You could cook?"_

 _They were in the kitchen, standing side by side by the counter. She was standing by his side while he was wielding a kitchen knife._

 _He raised an eyebrow as he looked down at her and said, "Yes." Then with a slight, embarrassed chuckle as he averted his gaze, "If I look at the recipe."_

 _She paused, staring at him with owlish eyes. Then she laughed. He would smirk, amused that she found it funny._

After he woke up from his reveries, he slowly rose from the corner, his hand clutching on kusanagi once again.

He slowly rose up as he stealthily approached her from behind, like a cat, his hand stretched out toward her slowly.

He expected her to turn into nothing as soon as he grasped her shoulder. He expected the scene of warmth and the scent of spices to once again break into shards of glass, to reveal the hidden, stoic enemy with long, wispy dark hair and slanted red eyes.

But he felt the warmth of her delicate shoulder, covered with a long sleeved cotton shirt.

And that was when he grabbed her shoulder and turned her around to face him.

But instead of eyes that shone a subtle lavender under the lamp light, he saw long lashed dark eyes that looked very much like his.

At that moment, his time stopped for him. Now that he took his time looking at her, he noticed that he could have known that this wasn't Hinata.

Her hair was a lot closer to black than Hinata's hair. She was taller, and her shoulders were slightly wilder than Hinata's petite frame. She didn't have bangs, but instead had long side swept hair framed her handsome face. She also had this bolder smile, with a mischievous glint in her eyes as if she had something to say but chose to withhold the secret to herself. She had chiseled lips and fair complexion that scorned the rays of the sun.

This wasn't Hinata. It was...

Sasuke somehow knew the answer but he just couldn't open his mouth to say it. It was as if his memories were slowly spreading across his head, like watercolor.

The woman looked up to him, and her eyes slowly crinkled into a smile. She raised her arms around the taller man's neck. She held him close to her, "Sasuke..."

Her voice filled with tears. Sasuke felt the front of his vest slowly soaking with her tears.

"My sweet boy...my darling."

Sasuke still couldn't say anything. He froze.

Mikoto wiped a tear falling from her left eye, across her pale face, and kept touching his hands, as if she was sure she could read all his sufferings from his hands.

Then she slid a hand inside his left sleeve and pulled out something long and dangling. She looked down at the jewelry with a nostalgic smile.

It was in her hand-a blue necklace.

The necklace he ripped away from Hinata during their fight in the streets of the cherry blossom festival.

He was carrying it in his sleeve as he wandered the earth in search of Hinata, and it was as if Mikoto had an instant, magnetic attachment to the necklace.

She looked down on the necklace and started to cry, her lips sucked in as she left the tears stream from her eyes.

Sasuke looked at her in wonder. He never remembered her to have so much tears.

"You came so far, Sasuke...This necklace tells me...how you survived the terror and went far across the land to seek a sword...What you went through to seek Itachi."

It was as if Mikoto's words unleashed a succession of film clips in his head. The Uchiha massacre. Itachi's cold, harsh words. How he was close to being deranged. How he gave up his everything to reach the Realm and become the Second Waker.

Even how empty he felt after all that. The sunset over the sea where he shed tears and vowed to never cry again.

And then...her.

 _When she was ten, she had a timid, shaky, fragile tremor to her voice. Messenger-sama._

 _Thirteen, less tremors but still soft, wispy, and light. Waker-sama._

 _Sixteen, he remembered how she tried to make her voice sound lower and more serious, but fail. Uchiha-sama._

 _Even at close to twenty, her voice sounded much the same, except slightly lower. Sasuke._

Then a low, gruff voice that he could never forget bomming in his ears, "Why did you take so long, Itachi?"

When he slowly turned around, there was his father, standing behind him, his hands behind his back.

When Fugaku's eyes met Sasuke's, he slowly turned around and roughly coughed into his hand.

After so many years, his personality that is rough around the edges still hasn't changed. Fugaku said matter-of-factly, "The table is set up. Come."

The Uchiha family gathered around the small coffee table that was set up on the main deck.

Fugaku opened a teal colored bottle of sake that Sasuke recognized right away.

His father glanced at him, noticing the glint of recognization in his younger son's eyes. Fugaku coughed, "It's only the matter of time you take this too."

Mikoto smiled, "He's been saving this bottle for you, Sasuke."

Itachi nodded, "It's the sake that father served to me the day I became anbu captain."

Sasuke cocked an eyebrow, "Weren't you still a minor?"

"It was just a glass, Sasuke."

The family circled the bottle of sake and took turns in drinking in graceful silence.

Anyone could truly tell that they were family by seeing how they closed their long lashed eyes as they took their drink. Mikoto placed her other hand delicately beneath her cup as if she was drinking tea, while the men held their glasses with a single hand.

Suddenly, Fugaku slammed the bottom of his glass on the table with a clank. Mikoto frowned at him in disapproval while his two sons fixed their attention on their usually reserved father. As always, Itachi looked calm while Sasuke cannot help but look slightly alarmed.

Fugaku's dark eyes turned a few shades darker, "that...girl."

Itachi glanced at Sasuke. Sasuke's face turned slightly pale. Then he grimaced and took another sip.

A blue fire that reminded him of the gates to hell ignited behind him, "She dared to wound my son."

Mikoto looked at him with slight reproof, "Dear..."

He glared at his wife and crossed his arms and said adamantly, "I don't like her." And then he shifted his eyes to Sasuke as if he expected him to agree with him.

Mikoto sighed. Her husband could be such a child sometimes.

Meanwhile, Sasuke didn't say anything, but bowed his head.

Seeing how he wouldn't promise to not deal with the Hyuuga girl anymore, Fugaku grunted and stood up from his seat.

Then he paced to the main courtyard and inspected the black bamboo shoots growing by the stone fence.

Mikoto smiled a bit apologetically to Sasuke, "Your father just wants the best for you...He firmly believes that you could do much better than Hinata san. But...it's up to you."

Itachi looked at his mother. He could tell that Mikoto was also hesitant and unsure about Sasuke and Hinata's relationship. He couldn't blame her. As rough as his father was, what he said was true. No parent would want her child to fall in the hands of someone who repetitively hurt them.

Sasuke glanced at his mother and looked down at his hands that curled into fists. He finally opened his mouth, "I...I wronged her too."

Mikoto's elegant eyebrows raised upward.

He thought, _Now that I remember my past as a Waker...I could see how much pain I caused her even in this new life. But she still loved me. She still protected me. But I was so blind he raised his hand to his left eye that I didn't notice it._

 _I don't know how good I am with just one eye._

When she saw her son covering his left eye with his hand, she inhaled sharply and bear hugged Sasuke. Her shoulders quivered.

Itachi stayed seated in silence.

The next morning, as they sat on the main deck, Sasuke asked Itachi, "how were you able to replicate my memories with Hinata?"

"I cannot say for sure. But I assume that it is due to the proximity between our generations as Second Wakers. Your memories are closely interlinked with mine. At your weakened state, I can access the places you've been to. And we did share quite a lot of time in both of our lives, Sasuke."

Sasuke nodded. They both stared into the courtyard garden where the lavender shrubs were drying at the fast rate under the sun.

Itachi was the one to break the silence. "Sasuke, I have a question."

"Do you still want to kill me?"

Sasuke's shoulders stiffened. Then he slowly turned to Itachi. His eyes, now his left eye showing lavender grey irises, were full of disbelief and rage. "Are you...are you out of your mind?"

Itachi's poker face didn't change as Sasuke roughly grabbed his collar, "How dare you ask me that?!"

A small vein ticked on his throat as he yelled at his brother's stoic face, "If we do share our minds, then you should know more than anyone how much I want to take back what I've done!"

After fixing his stony gaze on Sasuke, Itachi finally opened his mouth.

"Because if you have forgiven me...there's no reason for you to hate her either."

Sasuke looked at him and then bowed his head. He was clenching his fists so hard that his knuckles were turning white.

There was a shade of sadness in Itachi's eyes. "If you've forgiven me for calling you 'weak...' then you would understand what Hyuuga san is feeling at this moment as well."

Sasuke's shoulders slouched. His voice held a shadow of sorrow.

"Brother, I want my home."

His eyes that were staring at nothing in particular were hollow and melancholy. "I want my clan. I want you."

Itachi looked at him sadly. And then he rested his rough, callused hand on his messy black spikes, "Nothing's taking me away."

Sasuke looked at him and smirked. Then he looked at the garden again, "And Hinata is..."

There was a strange glimmer to his onyx eyes that stared up at the blue sky, "Hyuuga is…"

Sasuke slowly rose from his seat. He fastened kusanagi to the back of his obi and his eyes shone like a glint of a knife against the beating sunray. Itachi nodded and handed him a black cape that was long enough to reach his ankles.

But then they heard a gruff, masculine bark, "Absolutely not!"

The past patriarch of the Uchiha clan stepped forward and crossed his arms,

"No parent in any world wants their son to go after a girl that heartless and fickle."

His eyes softened as he faced his youngest, "As your father, I want you to know that I do not want you to go after her, Sasuke."

Sasuke stared back at him, wide-eyed, "...father..."

Fugaku was never vocal about wanting his sons' personal happiness. It was always about being an honorable member of the Uchihas and not bringing shame to their name.

It was the first time Sasuke felt that Fugaku was indeed his father.

Fugaku, misunderstanding Sasuke's silence as rebelliousness, raised his voice, "What does my son lack that he has to go after such girl?!"

But the past matriarch's soft touch on Fugaku's shoulder quickly ameliorated the sting of his anger. Mikoto looked at him squarely, "It's up to you, Sasuke. What you are going to do."

Sasuke looked at his mother. He bowed his head low to his parents.

Fugaku expressed his displeasure with his singular huff. Mikoto smiled at him with tears in her eyes and embraced him. Stiffening at first but relaxing soon, Sasuke returned his mother's embrace.

When Sasuke turned to his father, Fugaku glanced at him from the corner of his eye. At Mikoto's nudge, he finally stretched out his arm and patted his son on the back, and they engaged in a manly 'half hug.'

When they saw their two sons' fading backs, they felt a strange sense of loneliness that made them clung to each other. They were not usually the warm, feely, touchy types.

Fugaku spoke bitterly, "He's too much like me. That's what bothers me."

Mikoto gave him an understanding, kind look. Then she leaned her head on his shoulder.

When Itachi and Sasuke reached their destination, the portal of the vortex, Itachi looked at him.

"I unlocked your Rinnegan. Your subordinates would feel your chakra by now and know that you're awake."

Itachi's sharingan shone, "You have your memories back. You have your powers back. What are you going to do, Sasuke?"

Sasuke then realized that he had his left eye-the lavender grey irises of the feared rinnengan. His hand touched his left eyelid that kept blinking.

Somehow it was so natural for him to regain his full sight that he didn't even realize it.

Sasuke didn't answer. He just looked at his brother.

Even after he turned and entered the portal and disappeared, Itachi stood where he was. Looking at the spot where his brother disappeared.

When Sasuke opened his eyes, he saw the wide expansive plains of sunlit reeds and the shimmering horizon of the ivory Capital surrounded by the towering mountains. The sky was the bluest it could ever be. The coin like leaves of aspen trees were fluttering like shingles embroidered into military banners. He smelt the waft of pines that kept his heart beating at a regular tempo like a slow drum.

From the distance, he saw the approaching figures in black capes with red clouds.

It was as Itachi told him. His followers felt his chakra. They felt their master wakened. And they have come to salute him as their due.

One by one, he could recognize their faces as the Akatsukis raced towards him and circled him.

Juugo, Deidara, Konan, Zetsu all circled him and then bowed in salutation.

The Second Waker was back at the Realm.

* * *

Uzumaki's cerulean blue eyes snapped open and he rose to his full glory in the throne room.

Hyuuga, who was in her private chamber, felt it as well.

She cannot help but bite her lips, _Uchiha sama_ _..._

Uzumaki's eyes narrowed dangerously as he started storming out of the spacious conference hall.

As soon as she felt her master Uzumaki rise up and leave the Palace, Hyuuga stood up and rushed out of the window of her room.

She felt the breeze hit her face, and she wondered if the same breeze just passed Uchiha and has come to touch her face.

Her radiant eyes shone with a light shimmer of purple as she looked at the horizon where she could feel his dark chakra.

She whispered, "He has...come to kill me."


	31. Chapter 31

A/N: I'm sad because I didn't get enough reviews TT TT

The good news is we're close to finishing Waker's Pearl! Yepee! I am still going to edit some parts as I go, but I am still excited. Next chapter will be the last, I think. And next chapter, we will have lemons! muhahaha

Not this chapter though. Sorry.

* * *

Hyuuga rushed across the plains. It was already nightfall. The moon was in the perfect crescent shape, like a piece of jewel hanging suspended over a delicate chain of stars in the night sky. She felt the breeze, warm and comforting, blow across her face. It was extremely hot during daylight, so she welcomed the cool air.

Tears began to sting her eyes as she raced forth. She didn't know if it was due to the speed of her race or the rush of emotions at the thought of fierce onyx eyes and upturned lips.

'I thought…I thought he has forgotten me.'

She felt chocked in the throat, 'but he didn't…He just…hates me, that's all."

But there was a dark secret she stored in her heart that she never dared to voice out.

Because she was sure people would look at her with disgust if she ever said what's in her heart out loud.

When she found out that Sasuke was out to claim her life, she was relieved.

Because the fact that he has crossed borders to find her meant that he hasn't forgotten her.

She was grateful, for a lack of a better word, that she was still such a big player in Sasuke's life.

Even if it meant that he hated her with such a passion that he followed her to the Realm in order to kill her.

Whenever the sting of Sasuke's hatred registered to her, she comforted herself in solitude, 'they say that hate is just a paper thin distant from love.'

It was pathetic but that was the only way she could protect herself from mourning her lost love.

But now he has finally come. To claim the life he has saved her more than thousands of years ago.

And she would gladly surrender herself.

She said to herself, "I have to go quick before Uzumaki sama fights Sasuke."

But even though she has fully awakened her capacity as the Waker's Pearl, she just couldn't catch up to her sovereign's speed.

However, as she felt her legs beginning to feel tired, she gasped. She finally saw the glow of gold fire that she recognizes as Uzumaki's sage mode.

After a few pants, she cried at the top of her lungs, "My sovereign!"

From a far distance, she saw Uzumaki glance at her and halt in his step. He was glowing figure of gold suspended in the air, lighting up the miles of land beneath his feet.

She raised her voice, "Please! We need to talk!"

Uzumaki held his steady gaze towards her, his brows frowning. Meeting his stern gaze, Hyuuga looked at him with her soft, pearlescent eyes that shone under the stars.

She spoke urgently, "I know you're planning to fight him, but please—we could end this without a fight. If I just—"

Uzumaki bared his teeth, "If you give up your life?" He snapped his gaze to his destination, to where he could feel Uchiha's presence, "not happening."

Hyuuga tried to step in. Then suddenly, a flash of two figures materialized before her, blocking her way towards Uzumaki.

Hyuuga's eyes visibly widened.

Her lips shivered, "this can't be…"

The red haired beauty smirked while the silver haired nin eyed her with a strange look in his eyes, as if he himself couldn't believe the irony of this whole situation.

Karin laughed at the surprised look on her face, "Come on. Lighten up, Hyuuga. We're actually not here to fight you, you know?"

Meanwhile, Uzumaki looked unfazed as he calmly viewed Hyuuga facing her two adversaries.

Kabuto asked Uzumaki, "If either of us keep your princess in the tower, you'll hold your end of the bargain, correct?"

Hyuuga looked at him, stunned. What bargain could her radiant master possibly made with these two outlaws? What could Kabuto possibly mean?

Karin smirked, "Your master hinted that he will give over Sasuke Uchiha to whomever does a better job holding you back."

Under the crescent moon, Hyuuga's face turned paler.

The red haired beauty fixed her poisonous glare at Kabuto, "So, you will have to defeat both of us, because I am not planning to give up Uchiha sama to a mad snake or a pupil-less prostitute."

At their overconfident words, the Sun Waker scoffed, "If you could hold her back, that is."

Hyuuga looked beyond Kabuto and Karin. She stared at her master in horror, "Uzumaki sama…"

The sense of betrayal spread across her mouth like bitter bile. She couldn't believe that her master held hands with her enemies to hold her hostage while he is planning to confront Sasuke and harm him. Breaking their promise that he wouldn't exact his revenge on him if she becomes his Waker's Pearl.

Meanwhile, Uzumaki felt that he had no choice. He already ordered the Akatsukis to 'greet' Uchiha.

Without the Akatsukis, he had nobody who could be on par with Hyuuga. So he needed these two to do just enough to prevent her from getting to Sasuke…on time.

"Is this really who you've become, my lord?"

Hearing his Waker's Pearl's breathless voice filled with disbelief, Uzumaki stood still and silent. His white cape billowed in the night breeze that hurled trees and made mountains groan.

He finally opened his lips, "It is to protect you, Hyuuga. If you promise to go back to the palace on your own, I won't involve Kabuto or Karin in this."

At his quiet threat, she shut her lips. A shadow cast over her features.

Kabuto sneered, "Come on, princess. If you gently go back to your tower, we could do this nicely."

Her thin restraint on her temper snapped. Her eyes burnt with white fire, "You're not protecting me, Uzumaki sama!" She straightened herself up and barked at the two, "I demand these heathens to get out of my way!"

At her fury, Kabuto's eyes twitched in irritation, while Karin huffed as if a puppy has just challenged her to a duel.

Uzumaki looked at her for a moment. Then he averted his gaze. His voice was stern as he addressed Kabuto and Karin, "You will have to give your all to stop my Waker's Pearl."

When he vanished, all she could see was a golden shooting star flying across the plains.

"Uzumaki sama!"

But the two walking banes of Hyuuga's existence interceded before she got a chance to pursue her master.

Soon Hyuuga's eyes grew cold.

When Karin threw her chakra glowing chain at her, suddenly a ring of chakra formed around Hyuuga and burst into white flames.

Both surprised by Hyuuga's unexpected outburst, Karin and Kabuto both jumped out and watched from a safe distance.

"What the hell?" Karin cried, 'Where did all this power come from?'

Kabuto gritted his teeth, "When Hyuuga was Hinata, a mere mortal's Waker's Pearl, she wasn't able to demonstrate the full extant of her power. Now that she re-enacted her contract with the genuine Waker, she far surpassed anyone who used to be able to defeat her."

At his realization, Kabuto grimaced and took a step back.

But Karin wasn't going to go down without a fight.

Of all the nins who excel in chakra manipulation, Karin was at the top. Her chakra storage has long rivaled anyone in the Uzumaki clan, who are known for their capacities as jinchurikis.

Even though Hyuuga was Uzumaki's twin junchuriki, there was no way she could defeat Karin who had thousands of years of heritage before her.

It was the matter of experience with chakra not the size.

Karin clasped her hands together and spoke a litany of jutsus, and soon she formed an interwoven wall of chakra chains she summoned from the ground.

The wall spread out like a screen panel that unfolded miles and miles across.

Karin smirked.

But her smirk slowly dissipated into a look of shock as she saw the blue haired woman race towards the wall.

As she curled her spine and hurled herself at the protective barrier, Hyuuga clashed onto the wall of interwoven chakra chains.

At Hyuuga's single strike, the chains broke and the protective barrier turned into shards of chakra.

Before the shards of the chakra chains disappeared, Hyuuga appeared behind Karin and whirled her lion fist across her throat.

Karin turned and sought to strike Hyuuga with her poisonous kunai that could penetrate through chakra waves.

Once, Hyuuga saw the kunai, she quickly produced a kunai from her belt, and they exchanged blows that emitted sounds of metal clashing against each other.

As their kunais clashed against each other, the two women stepped back and forth.

The blows they shared seemed to be even, until Karin ran out of patience and saw Hyuuga's lack of defense around her left side.

Karin could almost scream out of delight, 'an opening!' Exposing the left side vulnerable to attack is a common error for even the most experienced right-handed warriors.

'It's my chance!' Karin's eyes glinted as she was about to lock Hyuuga's gentle fists with her chain and attack her from the left.

Hyuuga's delicate wrists were wrapped in Karin's chakra chains, and Karin made her strike.

When red hot blood spurted on her hand, she grinned.

But when she saw the face that was spurting blood on her arm, she froze.

Her crimson eyes widened, "No, it couldn't be…"

She was staring into Kabuto who was right behind Hyuuga. Her poisonous kunai was embedded into his stomach.

That was when Karin realized. Hyuuga purposely exposed her left side to danger so she could lead Karin into stabbing Kabuto who was about to attack her from the back.

'But how…' Karin froze, 'I couldn't see Kabuto!'

That was when she realized, 'the byakugan!'

Hyuuga's white eyes shone eerily in the dark.

For the Waker's Pearl's all seeing eyes, time was a toy to play with. Her eyes could see what is to happen in a millisecond. Being able to foresee the future by a mere second might seem small and unimpressive, but in a lethal battle, it was a deadly weapon.

The chains that wounded Hyuuga's wrists snapped into half. When she grabbed the chain, she twisted it around in the air.

With the chain, she slashed across Karin's throat.

Then she flung her blue fiery fist unto Kabuto's head and in a sweeping motion, decapitated both Karin and Kabuto.

At first glance, that is. Hyuuga seemed to have beheaded both, but a shrill masculine scream said otherwise.

A head full of red, burning hair rolled down the grassy hill, while the silver haired ex-Akatsuki grabbed his face. He could slowly feel his tactile senses numbing one by one. He was to die a slow, painful death where he is supposed to lose control of his body.

The night wind fluttered her long, blue hair. The glow of her indigo hair against her pale skin made her look haunting and deadly.

She glanced at Kabuto's suffering dispassionately. She wanted his death to be slow and painful, as his control over his senses lapse. Just how he has gorged on seeing Sasuke's suffering, Kabuto will suffer as well.

Hyuuga took a moment to take a breath.

Then she straightened up and raced towards the place she could feel the two Wakers colliding.

At last, she saw her sovereign, his white cape billowing against the night wind, and his broad back turned against her as he faced his nemesis.

When she finally reached Uzumaki, suddenly a large layer of white fog enveloped the hills.

At first, she wondered if it was smoke, but the pristine way the slightly salty fog filled her nose told her otherwise.

The chilling moisture of the air tried to lure her into a deceptive calmness, but she knew better.

She coughed, "Uzu…maki…"

She desperately tried to activate her byakugan, but she couldn't see through the shroud of fog whose chakra was as invisible as the two Wakers.

The wind was howling in her ears when she stood still, her omniscient white eyes rendered useless by the Second Waker's wielding of darkness and fog.

But she was still able to step in front of Uzumaki before he completely submerged himself into that desolate fog.

When he suddenly saw her stand before him, Uzumaki's golden eyes dilated in amazement, but soon his regal features succumbed to savage hardness. His fists clenched until his knuckles and veins on the back of his hands protruded. Deep in his heart, he knew that Hyuuga would defeat his two appointed ones. He just hoped that he would be done with his job before she arrives.

He looked down at Hyuuga who had her arms stretched wide and lowered his voice dangerously, "Stand aside, Hyuuga."

She was afraid, but she swallowed the invisible lump in her throat as she addressed her sovereign. She also lowered her voice, but the dripping sense of desperation gave away her fears.

"You promised," she said. Her eyes that had light purple undertones shone in the fog. Her eyes told him how she was doing her best fighting her tears.

"Move aside, Hyuuga," Uzumaki warned, and the feral scowl on his face told her he wasn't going to be lenient.

Hyuuga took a step back, as Uzumaki stepped forward. She looked up to him, a desperate, pleading look in her eyes.

But the unyielding, stubborn look on his face told her that she has to really strike a cord.

She hates confrontation. Her natural temperament forbids her from saying anything that could cause a strife. She would rather dwell in silence than instigate a conflict with those she held dear.

But it was either she gets on her master's nerves or she sees her loved ones get hurt again.

She swallowed and finally spoke in a calm voice,

" You made me your fellow jinchuriki, Uzumaki sama."

His eyes that reminded her of the ocean seas widened.

He snarled in warning, "Hyuuga…"

She kept going on, "Half of Kurama is in me. Without getting all of Kurama back, you won't last long in this battle. "

There, she said it.

Saying that aloud was taunting, abrasive at its best. She dared to challenge her master's power and abilities.

Uzumaki's glowing eyes snapped down at her, "I know what you are trying to do here." He growled, "And nothing you could do can stop me."

She raised her voice, "Then do what you must!"

She closed her eyes in resignation and a tear fell across her face, "I don't know which of us is the biggest fool."

Something in her voice stirred something within Uzumaki.

Shadow cast underneath his blond hair darkened Uzumaki's eyes. He then gritted his teeth and grabbed Hyuuga's shoulder and shoved her to the side.

* * *

The Wakers and Hyuuga weren't the only ones affected by the fog. Konan coughed into her sleeve. She called aloud, "Deidara san! Zetsu san! Everybody!"

She heard voices, "Yeah, we're all here!"

"What is going on?"

With a series of curses, Hidan answered, "It's the Second's doing. He cast a fog that keeps us estranged from their fight!"

Konan grimaced. The fog casts two visual illusions that were extremely perplexing.

The first is that she cannot see her Akatsuki comrades. The fog has effectively isolated each of them. The second is that whenever she get glimpses of the Wakers, the minute she rushes toward their direction, she is taken back to where she started.

This fog trick that keeps the victims spinning in circles and slowly go mad was an ancient jutsu that spawned many legends about haunting spaces and spectres.

To Akatsukis, this fog trick used to be scoffed as child's play, but if the wielder is the Second Waker, the story was different.

Konan and the other Akatsukis got the message; the Wakers want them out of their conversation and be passive spectators.

Deidara sneered and sat on his bottom, "If I take a step, I will end up in the same spot. Might as well just sit and watch the show."

Zetsu crossed his multiple arms, "Feels like eating off their hands. And I eat hands!"

Sasori shrugged, "But there's no denying that the Second has turned quite soft. If he thought someone was in his way, he used to just end him and that would be that."

Everyone fell silent and watched the two Wakers.

The last Uchiha looked down on the ground as he withdrew his long sword that cackled with blue sparks of electricity.

Facing him, a few yards away, was Uzumaki, a gold orb of foxfire gyrating like a childish spinning top on his palm.

His orange flame rimmed eyes were blazing with the will to fight, and the feline marks on his face became more and more prominent. His golden hair spiked upward, menacingly as a beast on a prowl.

Purple lightning cackled around the fog that he shrouded over Uzumaki and the Akatsukis.

'Even if the Akatsukis swore their loyalty to Itachi, I could not trust them.'

Hence, the last Uchiha shrouded the area with mind-succumbing fogginess.

He couldn't bother himself with fighting the Akatsukis, if they decided to turn against him.

He eyed his biggest target who was facing him, Uzumaki with his golden light enveloping his silhouette, making him the only burning candle in this fog.

Sasuke's dull purple rinnegan glinted in a softer manner, compared to his blazing, scarlet sharingan.

But, he then saw the one person who he could never forget or forgive for his entire life suddenly jump in Uzumaki's way. Her arms were stretched out like a mother hen protecting her frock.

Compared to her small, petite frame, the First Waker looked like a titan who legend speaks has descended to the world to kidnap mortal brides.

But she looked awfully brave.

She seemed to be arguing with her sovereign. Something she must have said in a faint whisper must have angered him.

The flames that ran through Uzumaki's body burned brighter as he knashed his teeth.

Uchiha couldn't possibly imagine that Hyuuga could have said that angered him so much.

But then he saw the unthinkable. The idiot _dared_ to push her.

When Uzumaki pushed her roughly to the side, Hyuuga gasped and fell to the ground by the impact of the shove.

Even though he had just knocked his Waker's Pearl down, Uzumaki marched forward in Sasuke's direction without wavering his hostile gaze.

"Hyuuga!" the White Zetsu cried at the sight, but he couldn't dare come close in fear of the fog spell. Logically, he knew that Hyuuga was not seriously hurt, but he couldn't help but be worried for his 'little poo.'

The way she collapsed to the ground like a delicate child gave him a ill sense of foreboding.

Sasuke's eyes dilated as he stood stunned where he was at the moment.

He vaguely registered how B/W Zetsu took the opportunity of his own distraction to rush to Hyuuga and prod her with his multiple arms to see if she was okay.

"Hyuuga!" Zetsu cried, "Wake up, little poo! Get a grip of yourself, damn it!"

When Uzumaki noticed that Sasuke was distracted, he made his first strike by slicing through the air with his rasengan.

Sasuke dodged the rasengan and his dull violet rinnegan radiated even brighter.

Suddenly, B/W Zetsu opened his eyes and found himself back where he was sitting a while ago, without Hyuuga, "Fuck!"

Then he saw how the two Wakers were exchanging blows, cackling purple lightning and bright azure blue sparks scintillating around them in chaotic beats.

Suddenly, emitting a deathly roar that couldn't be human's, Uzumaki unleashed a beast from within.

The famed Kyuubi, the Demonic Fox Spirit, with its blazing tails in full glory was standing.

The earth crushed under its dark claws as it roared into the celestial sphere that just couldn't contain the devil.

Zetsu looked up in astonishment, "He regained all of Kurama?"

He then looked at Hyuuga who was still lying unconscious, "So that's why…"

The materialized fox spirit roared and lunged Sasuke who quickly conjured Susanoo and cacooned himself in the purple skeleton cage.

Sasuke gritted his teeth, but Susanoo's protective barrier cracked under pressure and gave in.

As the purple barrier shattered into shards, Sasuke flew to the ground.

The fog started to clear up, and Uzumaki approached where he saw Sasuke fell.

He felt a tinge of relief relaxing his tensed shoulders as he finally saw Uchiha's dark, gloved arm and hand lying on the ground amidst the fog.

The fog started to clear up. It was expected, because the Second Waker must have lost consciousness.

Uzumaki knew. He still has to be careful. He couldn't just assume his victory. Uchiha could wake up in an instant and start his attack.

'Better to cut through his airway than be sorry,' he told himself.

But when he approached the arm, he froze.

The arm didn't have a body. There, lying on the ground, the solitary limb mocked him. Like old threads, the artificial chakra nerves that connected the prosthetic arm to the body showed signs of tearing.

Uzumaki turned to Hyuuga's direction and cried, "Sasuke!" But it was too late.

The monster has already started prowling over the maiden, as the tall, dark figure hunched over Hyuuga.

* * *

At the sound of the men's cries and the chidori and destruction, Hyuuga regained her senses and her eyes blinked a couple times.

She found herself on the ground, the white opaque mist still shrouding the place like a veil.

She managed to stand up on shaky legs, her arm wrapped around her side as she looked around.

For some reason, she realized how she felt better—as if she had taken a good nap that left her feeling clear minded and refreshed. She felt lighter too.

She touched herself, checking any injuries. None.

But then she finally noticed. It was as if a heavy weight was lifted off from her shoulder.

She was no longer plagued by Kurama's voice.

She was free.

Her master liberated her from being his fellow jinchuriki.

A wave of gratitude swamped her. She was finally released from the heavy burden of the Kyuubi.

But then she heard her master's familiar, gruff, urgent voice calling her, "Hyuuga!"

She blinked once and twice. She was still feeling very disoriented. She had hard time lifting her eyes from the ground.

Then she felt a presence of someone in front of her.

She felt warmth radiating from the presence like zapping electricity.

The fog hasn't fully cleared up yet, and she was still panting as she looked at the ground.

She raised her eyes, half expecting her own master to be standing in front her, but her eyes widened as she realized who it was before her.

She expected her immediate reaction to seeing him again to be tears. But strangely, the shock of seeing him again so close caused her head to go point blank, and all she could do was stare at him with widened opal eyes. Her small, pouty lips clammed shut in a line as her eyes kept staring up at the man whose name she dare not say out loud.

When he reached out his hand toward her face, she didn't know if he was going to dig his fingers into her eyes and kill her or just slap her. But she didn't close her eyes as she saw his fingers approaching her vulnerable, exposed face.

It was like she chose not to close her eyes.

She didn't know what she was expecting.

'And it is so weird,' she thought to herself, 'because I used to imagine what it would be like to see him over and over. Perhaps, a million times when the daily life's tolls didn't weigh on me. When Kyuubi's voice was just not too loud enough.'

But she didn't expect the soft, almost unbelieving way the pads of his fingers grazed her round cheek.

As he towered over her, she had to crane her neck to look up at the tall man.

She felt her neck slightly cracking from the assertion it took to just look up at his handsome, sculpted face.

His dark, swarthy cloak enveloped his tall height, as he slightly hunched over to be able to touch her face more easily. His long dark hair fell across his face as he subtly slouched, looking down at the woman who looked so fragile and breakable compared to himself.

As hard as it was to believe, the famed murderer and demi-god's touch on her face was more like the uncertain, blind touches of a newborn against a mother's cheek.

She was so mesmerized by how unreadable his face was and the heart-searing way he tentatively touched her face that she missed how his right arm was a bleeding stump.

She kept looking up at him, her eyes widening to impossible sizes. Then she felt a water drop fall on her soft cheek, so close to falling into her own eye.

The drop formed on her cheek and then dropped across her skin, as if it was her own tear.

Then she felt the hand that was grazing against her face gently grip the side of her face.

She looked up at him, and for a moment, she forgot to breath.

Then she heard his voice. His voice that tore through the cacophony of her own mind.

A faint shudder ran past his entire body and goose bumps rose on her arms as his raspy voice said, "You…"

In turn, tears started to fall from her lipid, crystalline eyes that still remained fixed on his face. Her eyes were as wide as they could ever be.

But she couldn't dare murmur his name. Her lips opened, but they froze.

Noticing that he didn't have another arm to hold her with, Hyuuga gasped and broke into silent tears as she wrapped him around with both arms.

That was when she finally closed her eyes shut and let the tears fall, unconstrained by anything.

Like that, they buried themselves into each other's warmth as they huddled close to each other.

The suffocating opaque fog started to dissipate, but nobody could break the silence that enveloped them more thickly than any kind of spell or mist.

But nothing seemed to be able to stop the shuddering of Hinata's body and her tears streaming down and soaking the front of Sasuke's vest.

Her small, fair hand caressed his beating chest, as she rubbed her forehead against him. She just couldn't stop her tears.

And like that, they stood still. Hyuuga looked so small, like a spent, shivering bird weeping against Sasuke who stood tall like a dark oak tree that was bending towards the small, frail bird.

"Oh, Uchiha..." she gasped breathlessly, as she tried to speak clearly despite her tears.

Her fingers pressed onto his chest that heaved up and down slowly as he held her tighter.

She whispered, as she kept feeling the presence of a gaping wound on her chest. She breathed out his name, as if his name was a heavy rock that she always carried close to her chest, "Oh, Sasuke..."

When he saw the two, Uzumaki stood rooted where he was. And he looked. Suddenly he felt a sense of defeat.

The rasengan that was spiraling on his palm dwindled into clear air, and a soft breeze escaped his hands like a sigh.

The First Waker made a rueful smile. Now it was time to give up.

There were just somethings that couldn't be stopped.


	32. Chapter 32

A/N: Planning to update this chapter. I suck at writing lemons.

 **Mature content: rape fantasies, role play**

I recognize that this chapter is quite choppy and it is missing bits and pieces, but it is the last chapter. I will upload an epilogue of their future together when I feel like it.

Thank you!

* * *

"So...you are leaving."

Bowing before him in the throne room, Hinata didn't answer.

He was sitting on the ivory chair that no longer had its dark, steely counterpart. The owner of the no longer available chair was currently undergoing a surgery for his arm in Sasori's workshop.

It was a good opportunity for her to be alone with her master.

Her lips were set in a serious line as she gazed at his boot clad feet. She didn't dare lift her face and see him in the eye. She couldn't bear to see the look of reproach or disappointment or loneliness in his eyes.

"My master," she finally said after a moment of silence, "thank you for everything." Her voice held a faint quiver.

She finally stood up and turned. When she took a few steps, she suddenly heard "Hinata."

When she turned around, she saw him standing. He had his smile, his eyebrows lifted over serene, good natured blue eyes.

"Thank you...and"

Her light lavender eyes widened.

"Be happy."

His gruff voice reverberated with a soft timbre at the end.

Suddenly, Hinata felt her eyes getting moist. She felt choked, and she felt a single hot tear escaping her control, falling across her cheek. She bowed her head once again and left, rubbing her eyelids with the back of her hand.

She opened the wide monumental door and left, leaving the First Waker alone.

Sasuke and Hinata didn't say a word as the sky started to shed its robe of daylight and cast darkness over the mountains.

The setting sun was hiding behind the clouds that were dyed yellow ochre, against the backdrop of the baby blue sky.

The mountains were growing dark, but the sky was radiant. The contrast between light and dark was stunning, to say the least.

Deep in the forests, surrounded by tall aspen trees, Hinata followed Sasuke who was pacing a bit impatiently towards his intended destination.

Awed by the beauty around her, Hinata pointed to a rainbow whose brightness faded as it curved to the other side.

Sasuke nodded and they continued walking ahead.

Hinata wondered, 'Where is he taking me?'

The step against the soil was familiar. The way she would gaze at his broad shoulders as he walked ahead also struck a sense of nostalgia.

When she would giggle to herself as she let herself dwell in her memories, Sasuke would peer beyond his shoulder and gaze at her inquisitively.

In such moments, she would take time to study his face.

She couldn't help but think that the current Sasuke looked slightly younger than the Second Waker sama she has known in her past.

But some things have remained the same with him, and some traits have returned.

His distinct, prominent nose with its shapely tip and refined cheekbone structure were always prone to drawing attention.

He looked a bit more solemn, with his chiseled lips set in a line and dark brows snapped over his eyes. In a way, his glum expression set an interesting contrast with his youthful, aristocratic, 'pretty boy' features.

But it was his sharp dark eyes set on his pale face that cast their timeless spellbinding effect. The way he gazed up at the dissipating sunrays made his stately profile look distinct and unforgettable.

Sasori has attached a robotic arm that was superior in healing rate and agility to Sasuke's prior prosthetic arm.

But because the arm would sometimes make sounds of churning mechanics, Sasuke liked to mute the sound by covering it with a thick, dark sound-proof cape.

Sasuke stopped, and Hinata stopped as well.

Her light lavender tinted eyes widened in glee and excitement at the sight before her.

It was the waterhole where they used to train and spend time together before she became a Waker's Pearl.

Hinata gazed at the beautiful waterfall and the deep, turquoise pond, and the surrounding rock caves.

The sounds of crickets jumping through the tall grass by the water uplifted her spirits.

When Hinata tried to take off her shoes and dip her toes in the water, Sasuke held her hand and stopped her.

When she looked at him confused, he continued staring down at her and taking her close to the waterfall.

'Is he trying to push me into the waterfall?' Hinata wondered.

Panicking, she fidgeted, but Sasuke kept taking her closer to the thundering waterfall where they skirted the narrow, steep path.

Then Sasuke pulled up his water-proof, sound-proof cape over his head and Hinata's, and they both quickly ducked underneath the waterfall.

When Hinata caught her breath and looked up, she couldn't contain her gasp of surprise.

Beyond the waterfall was a cave. The cave was a size of a homey cottage, and amazingly had a portable fire lamp and a bed and other simple necessities of a camp: cookware like a paring knife, stone board, benzene boiler, a pot, and a kettle, and basic hygiene- a razor, comb, soap, and tooth paste.

Hinata tentatively approached the bed and swiped her finger across the sheets.

She looked at her finger and gasped, "It's…clean!"

The Second Waker couldn't help but chuckle at her amazement.

She carefully sat herself on the bed, "It's…warm!" Then her brows snapped over her light lavender eyes in suspicion as she looked at the quiet man who was staring at her.

"I used to stay here in the old days," he explained, "It's good that the spatial jutsu sealed the place for allt hese years."

She smiled, "you speak as if you're an old man, but aren't you barely twenty two?"

With a quiet smile that quickly disappeared as it came, Sasuke took off his cape and folded his outer garment.

He picked up his kettle and went to the waterfall that barred anyone's entrance to their secret cave.

After filling the kettle, he returned and turned on the benzene burner.

As he saw the kettle of water coming to boil, he kept looking at the fire beneath the oil.

Hinata stared at him at first but then busied herself with some books she found by the bedside.

She flipped through the pages and frowned. She then closed the book shut and shook her head, 'such sheer difficulty…' She couldn't contemplate why he would read such books, if not to lull himself to sleep.

When she casually shifted her gaze toward Sasuke, she started when she realized that he was staring at her.

He was smiling.

Blushing, she found herself wanting to curl into a ball.

The tall man approached with two stainless mugs of tea and sat next to Hinata, offering a cup.

She felt the mattress slightly dipping due to the weight of his body pressed snugly next to hers. His upper body slouched over comfortably, unlike Hinata's straight, rigid posture.

At his unexpected, gentlemanly gesture, Hinata couldn't bring herself to stare at him directly and gratefully received the cup. His dark eyes looked down at her as in deep thought at her inability to make eye contact. And the way her blush heated her ears and reached down to her neck. He just wanted to knock off the annoying mug in her hands and tackle her to bed. But he knew that if he did, she might never want to see his face again.

They drank in silence. She glanced at him. The way he slouched turned her attention to his broad shoulders and his sensuously curved spine that dipped into the mattress. Her sensitive ears picked up the sound of his lips blowing off the steam from his mug. It made her feel tingly. The sound, though innocent, conjured dirty images in her mind. He was a gorgeous man. Hinata felt she could watch him forever enjoying his tea as he absent mindedly stared ahead as he pressed the stainless steel rim to his chiseled, plush lips.

 _Ttak-_ But only after a couple of sips, Sasuke placed his mug on a stack of books by the bed. Hinata jumped slightly at the weighty sound of the mug on the books.

He then placed both hands on his lap and side-glanced at Hinata. Her hair was falling down by the side of her face as she was blowing over the steaming tea. 'Hmm' he thought. She was pretending to be occupied and he noticed.

He finally opened his mouth, "Is it too hot?"

They both knew the tea was just the right temperature.

She answered, "No."

They were quiet again. He swung his long left leg over the other and started taking off his shoes.

He carelessly placed his shoes by the books.

Hinata glanced at his long, narrow, pale feet.

Then she heard

 _Zzipp_

But then suddenly, Sasuke unhooked and zipped down his flyer and took off his dark, slightly baggy trousers.

Hinata almost sprayed her hot tea out of her mouth, "Sa-Sasu-!"

"Hm?" He looked at her. She almost could see the teasing glint in his onyx eyes.

But then she saw that he was wearing dark boxers that covered his lap.

She almost felt as if she would die of embarrassment.

'Here I am, thinking and expecting that he would do anything inappropriate. He is the past Second Waker now. He's usually a gentleman. I must've looked ridiculous.'

After taking a deep breath, Hinata focused on enjoying her pleasant, soothing cup of tea.

It was chamomile, her favorite. She sipped on her tea, trying to ignore Sasuke's intense gaze that became bolder every second.

She could feel him staring at her as if she was a fruit ripe for eating. His gaze poked at the side of her face. She tried to ignore him, but his not so subtle way of pressing her to finish the tea was making it hard.

He looked at her cheeks that reminded him of juicy late summer peaches, her fluttering eyelashes, and the way the rim of the cup grazed against her sheer colored lips. Especially her lips that he loved. He couldn't help himself from licking his bottom lip as he stared. His eyes looked dazed as he stared at her juicy lips and imagined pressing his mouth against hers. How her lips must taste like. How she might moan and clutch his shirt as they passionately kiss on the bed.

In her mind, he reminded her of a big dog, waiting patiently for his treat that he is eyeing like a wolf.

When she is focusing on her tea, she could feel the heat radiating from his gaze, but when she looks at him, he immediately perks up and looks at her with round, innocent dark eyes. But when she goes back to her tea, he stares at her with a smoldering look.

When she finally placed the empty mug on another stack of books and turned towards him, he was pulling his dark t-shirt over his head, revealing pale, sculpted abs that narrowed into a shape of V over his boxers.

"Sa-Sasuke," she felt heat rising to her face, but that was when he crushed his lips against hers and pushed her down on the mattress.

It was even better than what he expected. Her lips were sweet and warm from drinking the tea. But he was able to tell that Hinata's shyness was making it hard for her to stay calm and relaxed during their kiss. She was a little stiff.

When he towered above her, she looked down and saw his long pale calves and thighs that stretched beyond.

"Sa-Sasuke, we just came—" She was about to give her lame excuses.

"I couldn't take it any longer" was his husky reply.

Then she felt her mouth dry at the sight.

All could she think was 'what is this gorgeous man doing with someone like me?'

She blushed when she saw how he was watching her intently as she was ogling his endless legs, toned abs, and the chiseled muscles of his pale, smooth chest.

She heard a gentle huff from his mouth when she quickly covered her face with her hands. He seemed to be bemused towards her incurable shyness.

She thought, 'I'm such a pervert.'

The truth was-Hinata has long coveted the idea of being so desirable that the stoic, brooding gentleman would lose his grasp on self-control.

She would often look over her shoulder when she reads these silly novels about the attractive, reckless hero and the girl who just can't resist his passion. And hide her eyes and peek through when a movie shows the actor surprising the actress with a forceful kiss. And she would often imagine, late in night, switching places of the heroine and her lover with her and…the dark, brooding Uchiha. The imaginations at first alarmed her, but now she felt she knew in her heart that she'd always loved him.

Thinking she was the weirdo, she has long given up the idea that anyone would accept her secret desires. Most of all, she didn't want _him_ to know.

Him being the epitome of self-control and purity in her eyes, the walking, talking ice sculpture that doesn't bat an eye at the hundreds of girls who flock towards him—

Hinata wondered, 'Should I...?' She told herself, 'as long as he doesn't know what I am thinking…'

So she imagined herself re-enacting one of her fantasies. _He finally lost his sense of control and made up his mind to have her. She didn't know what he was planning in store for her, but then he lured her into his trap—_ she blushed. She was such a pervert.

He hadn't kissed her for so long and he was dying to fill his mouth with the warmth of her tongue and her sweet peppermint scent. Also, the little minx seemed to like being a little rough, and he was planning to show her what 'being rough' with an Uchiha meant.

When she felt his soft lips move against hers seductively, changing the angle of his open mouth, she made a single struggle, writhing against the hard, sculpted planes of his body. Like a mermaid caught in a fisherman's net.

At her sudden movement, Sasuke released her lips and exhaled roughly as Hinata turned her blushing face away from him.

Then he peppered her creamy throat with kisses, and encouraged by her loud moans, he became more possessive and territorial. He grabbed her ample breasts underneath the fabric of her dress with little thought or care for gentleness. He kept kissing her. His strong jaw moved slowly and sensuously as he moved his gaping mouth against her lips that clammed shut in resistance. His tongue asked for entrance into her mouth rather sweetly, and she felt like she was on fire. But she was also scared of the unknown feeling that if they go on, they could never turn back.

"Ah-wait..." she moaned when his hand groped her breast, causing deep wrinkles into her pretty dress. The dress that could be converted into an off shoulder look made her look even more petite and innocent. The perfect look for their first night.

A low growl escaped his throat when Hinata turned her head away. He grabbed her chin and continued his shower of affectionate gestures—kissing, playful nipping, grazing...

Then he heard her voice, "Ah-we can't..."

Sasuke's eyes widened. He quickly detracted his hands from her as if her skin was on fire. Hinata fluttered her eyes as if confused by the sudden loss of warmth and kisses. But he still hovered over her like a beast hungry for a bite of his overtaken prey. He hesitated to completely step back, because he thought she was really into it.

He stared at her, as if she was the greatest threat to his existence, as if her single word could crumble whatever he had, and Hinata, realizing her slip, blushed furiously.

Then a tear formed in her eye, "I…no, I didn't mean…"

Sasuke, not knowing what was going on in her head, looked down at her. His dark eyes scanned the way her eyes nervously fluttered up and down and her cheeks turned redder.

She trembled as she blushed, "I...I don't know why I said that.I'm sorry, I-"

"Hinata-"

"It's not that I don't want it—I do, it's just I-"

He spoke with added emphasis

"Hinata-"

"I-I get excited when" she squeezed her eyes shut "when I say 'no,' I'm sorry—I'm such a -"

Then he reached out and interlaced his fingers with hers into a tight grip. His palm pressed onto hers tightly, pushing her hand onto the mattress.

A vein jumped on his masculine toned arm that held her hand on the ground. Hinata felt a huge bulge pressing between her legs and felt her heart running like a marathon. The bulge gave the feeling of how could she say—a bumpy fulness and it was really warm. She wasn't experienced but she could tell that he was getting excited.

Then he grabbed both edges of her dress's neckline and pulled the dress down her shoulders. The dress with sleeves turned into an appealing 'off shoulder look.' He briefly contemplated ripping her pretty dress but then she won't have anything to wear the next morning. So he kept pulling down the elastic dress, until he could fully see her breasts.

The dress hung around her waist.

He kept his eyes pinned on her face, studying her expression, as his hands carefully stroked her full, milky breasts. He searched for any sign of displeasure or fear as he lowered his face to her breast and started to tentatively suck on her right nipple. He closed his eyes as he encouraged her with his brief, quiet sucks on her breasts. His long dark hair fell like feathers on her skin.

When he felt her try to push him away, he raised himself up and kissed her on the mouth.

She felt her heart pounding as his heated lips tried to coax a response she didn't know how to give. Should she try to hold in the moans that were threatening to escape? Would he be put off by her lack of experience? All these insecurities visited her as she felt his lips depart from hers after a brief, lingering suck, and the shapely tip of his nose grazed her cheek.

She heard his soft, gravelly voice, "It's okay, Hyuuga."

He lazily opened his beautiful dark eyes and made eye contact. "I'll protect you." He whispered.

When their eyes met, his dark eyes fluttered and gazed down at her. She felt herself being completely entranced, to the point where she let him tower over her and touch her.

In a way that felt too easy and forthcoming for the shy girl, he stared at her full, peachy breasts that were paler than the rest of her skin. His hands were pinning her wrists down by her side. He was staring at her so hard that she squirmed.

Seeing her struggle, he softened his gaze.

He spoke in a seductive, raspy voice, "Is this what you want?" His dark hair scattered over his wispy onyx eyes that looked down at her.

Mesmerized by the look in his eyes, his voice, and the way his hands pinned her down, she answered helplessly, "Yes…"

And as soon as he heard her answer, he lowered himself and flicked the tip of his tongue over her left nipple.

His hot tongue lingered over her nipple that erected at the moist heat.

She gasped and cried "no, don't-" as she applied pressure to her wrist and (pretended to) tried to break free.

He took a moment of taking a deep breath before saying "Shut up. I'm not letting you go." Then he lowered himself and gave her right nipple the same treatment.

"Ahh!" She screamed.

He was tasting her, feeling her. He let his mouth suck on her breasts, but he soon stopped.

Hinata looked at him wide eyed, but moaned as she covered her naked breasts with her free arm. She turned away from him slightly and gazed at him shyly. Her eyelashes trembled as she peered at him timidly and uncertainly, but there was an amorous blush on her face.

But her lover didn't want to miss his chance at feeling her, naked.

Then he grabbed her wrists with one hand and pulled her arms away from her breasts. He used his left thigh to part her legs that coiled together in a shy attempt to hide her most sacred part.

"Ah-wait!" She gasped when she felt his strong toned thigh rubbing against her sensitive crevice.

But that was when he raised himself slightly and started attacking her by pressing on her mound with his left thigh. He added enough pressure on his leg so he wasn't hurting her but just enough for her to feel a little...violated.

"Ugh-ugh-urgh-" he kept groaning as he applied pressure between her legs and beated her just enough so it won't hurt.

She whined in protest to the on and off, hard and tough pressure of his thigh between her legs. Her high pitched, drawn out whine sounded so adorable that Sasuke silenced her with a kiss. When he drawn out his tongue to engage her mouth in a silent kiss, Hinata whimpered softly and allowed him to stroke her side in comfort. When she was enjoying the entanglement of their tongues, that was when she felt it—

"Sasuke-!" She cried out as she jerked away from his kiss.

His half lidded eyes looked dazed as he stared down at her.

But-but she felt it! She felt something moving like a swaying pendulum...over her crotch. It was long and hot, she could feel the heat across the skirt part of her dress that hung limply over her waist.

She stared at him for some moment—"was that...your hands?"

At first, he didn't understand her question and then he did. He smiled slyly.

In a soft, teasing tone, he lulled "No, I'm not using my hands."

She started, but then she wasn't sure if he heard her right. Clearly he must have mistaken? She asked again. "Did you use your hands?"

This time, he shook his head and chuckled, "No, I didn't use my hands."

When Hinata realized what the 'thing' that touched her was, she turned her face away and groaned in embarrassment. Sasuke almost chortled but he pressed his chiseled lips against her red cheek in a chaste kiss. He whimpered, "so cute."

As he pressed deliberate kisses over her cheek, she mustered the courage to speak,

"The thing is... I..."

He stopped his kisses and looked down at her.

She took her time and he waited.

She squinted her eyes shut, "I like...going a little...just a little rough."

He raised an inquisitive dark brow at her. Then he made a bemused smile that made her blush in self-consciousness. Then he closed his eyes and hummed mm' and pulled her into his chest. He murmured groggily, "good to know" as he closed his eyes.

She shivered,

"I...I thought you...you would be..."

He cocked an eyebrow at her, waiting for her to finish her words.

"Be...put off..." She finished lamely.

After all, what kind of woman wants to be forced into sex? And she loves him. She must be out of her mind. But here, she was pretending to reject him when all she wants is for him to dominate her. She wanted him to own her.

His calm, raspy voice interrupted her tailspinning thoughts.

"No, I was a little surprised, but I decided to go with it. And when I did...it was..."

He paused and looked into a far distance before letting out a little sigh. He was desperately trying to rein his desire to just take her, but he was fighting to stay composed. But every part of his being was screaming that he wants her.

He then spoke crisply, betraying his tempestuous emotions, "Everyone has sexual fantasies." Then he pressed his hand on the center of her chest. His hand was big enough for his long, finely shaped fingers to fully contact the expanse of Hinata's breasts.

Sasuke stared at her in the eye, without removing his hand from her chest. His eyes were the darkest jet black in the shadows of the cave, and the light reflecting from the waters danced across his pale face that looked straight into hers.

Sasuke kept staring at her, his eyes calm but questioning, asking.

When he saw the blush on her face, he made a groan and then sunk his face onto her chest. As he rested the right side of his face on her chest, he let out a sigh. Hinata started. The sound of his sigh was so sweet that it was unexpected. He nuzzled the tip of his pointed nose against the cleavage of her full breasts and his left hand stroked her breasts appreciatively.

Hinata let out a small gasp and turned her face to the side, away from Sasuke. She never expected him to be so...bold. No, of course she did. It's just...it wondered her why she always managed to get so surprised whenever Sasuke was being...Sasuke. She wondered. How can someone groping her be so calm and unembarassed about it. He looked into her eyes intently as if daring her to look away...while being shockingly unembarrassed about groping her body.

When she brought her hand to her lips and nervously touched her lips with her fingertips, Sasuke watched her and then looked down at her full breasts. Then he raised himself up and started pulling down his dark boxers.

Hinata almost cried out, "Sa-Sasu-um!" but he muffled her cries with his free hand.

He hissed, sexual frustration causing him to be aggressive

"Be quiet" he warned.

Feeling turned on beyond words, she moaned longingly into the palm of his hand that wrapped around her mouth. He felt himself getting harder and tiny hair rose on his arms. A chill went down his spine when he saw her unable to shout or scream or beg, her body opening to him like a young sacrifice.

He whispered, "I am going to make you mine tonight."

She looked at him wide eyed. Then she closed her eyes shut and started struggling, "mm-mmm!"

Sasuke felt his cock twitch in an almost erratic move and harden at the same time he muffled her cries. Her innocence reminded him of her Waker's Pearl candidate days . Then, he worked so hard to protect her from being tainted by anyone, especially himself. But he remembered how he wanted nothing more than to seize her and have his corrupt ways with her. To hear her cry and scream as he takes her from behind. A lot of times he wanted to just abandon about what was proper or what others would say. If he decided to forcefully take Hyuuga's innocence, no doubt some of the Akatsukis and Naruto would've risen against him.

He looked at his hand that was covering her mouth. And her pleading light lavender eyes that glistened with tears. Was there ever a time he didn't fantasize about dragging her down to his level so he didn't have to look at her shining in the light as he lurked in the shadows?

She winced when she felt his taut nipples graze her chest and his toned thigh rubbed against her inner mound, gingerly. She couldn't bear to look at what she knew would fill her. She always wondered if 'it' was as monstrous and ugly as a lot of girls say. She kept her eyes to his face, his eyes that burned her. His sharingan and rinnegan were in full motion.

Then he let go of her mouth, separated himself, and right when she was about to protest, she hissed and threw back her head.

Lips, then tongue was all she could feel against the flesh between her legs. His large hands pinned down her thighs, forcefully parting her legs.

"Wa-wait, please!" She cried.

But all she could hear were sharp sounds of slurping and sucking. She gasped and writhed. Her hands clutched his head, pulling his thick, dark hair.

Hinata slightly winced when Sasuke pushed his tongue rather forcefully over her sensitive pearl above her labia. Not because of the pain, but due to shyness. Before he ventured into her, she didn't even known that she had a little pearl that wanted to be stimulated in her body. The feeling of his wet muscle thrusting into the cavern was overwhelming and a little painful, but she wanted the moment to last as long as it could.

"No, I don't wan-" _gulp, "_ aaahhh—!"

He inwardly chuckled. Even though Sasuke knew it was Hinata's shyness, he felt as if she was purposely taunting him to grab her, force her, to taste her. It only made it feel more satisfying to dominate her.

His eyes were half lidded, and his pale lips were buried in the flesh pressed between her plump labia, betraying no emotions. But he couldn't dare take his eyes off her face and his hands moved to further undress her as if intoxicated or dazed.

She looked up at him, slightly alarmed. But not by his actions but by the look on his face.

He then lifted himself up, separating his mouth from her clit. A string of sticky milky liquid strung to his mouth. He raised the back of his hand to his chin and licked the remaining essence.

She trembled, her legs still parted for his view, "no...Uchiha sama...please stop.."

"Have you ever imagined" he asked, "your beloved mentor and teacher wanting you like this?"

She shook her head. She didn't want their precious, pure memories to be tainted anymore, "no, liar!"

"It's the truth!" he spoke harshly, "the teacher and older friend you always looked up to for guidance wanted you as a woman. He wanted you on his bed."

He situated himself snugly between her thighs and looked down at how she was blushing. How she badly wanted to snap her legs together but his stubborn presence and his hooking his arms beneath her legs kept her from doing so.

He kept speaking, "He wanted to take you and he imagined it so vividly-" he panted, "even the sounds of the Akatsukis knocking on the door after hearing your alarmed cries—"

His slightly tan, long fingers gripped her right arm and pinned it down by her side.

She sobbed, tears trickling down her face, soaking the bed sheets. "Uchiha sama, please" she begged, "I-I've always looked up to you—I wanted to be strong and warm like you—I looked up to you—"

 **"But that was not what I wanted from you!"**

She kept looking up to him with those damnable tears and pity in her eyes.

He smirked. In a matter of time, he will turn those tears of pity into horror.

To her embarrassment and secret excitement, he has deviously hooked each of her legs over both of her arms. In a matter of seconds, the cunning man had her body opened to him like a flower in full bloom. Her legs were widely spread and bent, resting helplessly over his arms. She never felt as spread out before, in such a revealing, compromising way.

She was wearing a dress so there was absolutely no barrier between his body and her panties.

Unlike her flaming face, he looked surprisingly calm and unembarrassed, as if it was the most natural thing for him to do.

He continued, "even when I reincarnated and started living with you, you continued to enjoy torturing me."

She knew he was referring to their lives in Konoha.

If she wasn't able to decipher his emotions from years of knowing him, she might have taken his half lidded, impassioned gaze as a sign of disinterest. He looked tired but the way he went through the motions of undressing her and pinning her told her that he wasn't interested in going to sleep.

He asked her threateningly, "Did it feel good to always reject me, Hinata?"

When he saw the slight fear and uncertainty in her eyes, he lowered himself and purposefully grazed his bare, well formed, and enticingly muscled chest against the sensitive nipples of her breast.

"Did you think it was fun to reject a boy just because he didn't know any better?"

Hinata jolted at the shocking sensation and gathered deep breaths while shutting her eyes tight.

She squirmed, "Sasuke, please" but he held her arms down.

He panted, "nobody is here to protect you." He rasped, "no Akatsuki, no Uzumaki, no Hyugas—"

She rolled her head to the side, trying to control her breaths despite Sasuke's ministrations. "Please" she begged, "please, I-I didn't know any better. I was still young-" a tear rolled down over her face. "I suffered too. So please forgive—"

"Oh, I'll forgive you-"He studied Hinata's tearful face and sank his face closer to his breasts and captured her right nipple between his perfect teeth. "Once I am done with you, I'll forgive you."

He really wanted to go slow and considerate, like a true gentleman, but the sight of her brows lifting in astonishment and slight fear and her cheeks darkening into a shade of red gave him other ideas. And her pale breasts...were unbelievably soft against his mouth and hands. They felt like marshmallows.

He murmured, "I'll forgive you...once I get this good fuck."

"Sasuke-!" She gasped at his crude words.

"Everything here is mine," he played with her erect nipple with his tongue.

Hinata's eyes flew open and when she tried to struggle, she was reminded that Sasuke has hooked her legs over his arms and his hands pinned her slender arms to the ground. If he wanted to go inside her, he could now.

His sharp teeth playfully squeezed her nipple between, and the slightly astringent feel of grazing teeth sent her reeling off edge. No tongue, just teeth.

"Ah, you're biting me!" She cried. It didn't hurt. It was just wildly inappropriate.

"Oh, I'm sorry-" he said apologetically and then continued his playful bites, "I did it on purpose."

She threw back her head and whined plaintively. Then she shook her head, her face blushing in sweet agony. "I-I'm going to pa-pass out-"

"Go ahead," he rasped as he grasped her womanhood and started rubbing it up and down, "I thought you liked going 'rough.'"

He paused and lifted himself up and took a moment to stare down at her glistening cheeks, panting lips, and glazed eyes...and down to her breasts.

Hinata's head rolled to the side, "please..."

Her voice was light and feathery as she whined out her protest.

As if speaking to a pouting child, he purred, "please?" His voice was soft and coaxing, but there was a latent sense of danger that threatened to devour Hinata.

Instead of answering, the midnight haired girl shook her head as she continued lying sideways. He gazed at her sweet profile and relented graciously, "okay."

He internally smiled. Deviously.

He would lull her to a shallow sense of security and then capture her in one gulp.

"But you have to explain to me," he spoke between kisses on her bare stomach, "when you really mean 'please' or 'no'" more kisses that left her breathless, "and when you want me to go harder." His tongue dipped into her belly button, causing a fire to stir in her lower abdomen.

He suggested, "Maybe...we can make...a safety word?"

She was pleased and she nodded enthusiastically

"Yes, let's think of a safety word!"

She was about to sit up and think happily. What kind of word? Something that she wouldn't accidentally blurt out, but something that doesn't sound too silly...

Right when she thought it will take some time, Sasuke spoke up with a weight of decisiveness.

"Ice."

Hinata started and blushed at his quickness.

"Huh? That fast?"

Sasuke spoke straightforwardly, without a hint of embarrassment.

"I just thought of a word as fast as I could. And when I saw the water, all I can think of is 'ice.'"

The waterfall made a gentle sound of flowing water outside, letting them know of its presence.

That was when Hinata was reminded...of how efficient Sasuke is, when he sets his mind onto something.

"Oh, oh, I see." Hinata blushed and started looking at everywhere but Sasuke.

Seeing Hinata like that made him smirk. Seeing Sasuke's smirk made her poor heart thump wildly, and when he placed both of her legs over his right arm, she blushed heavily at the hint of what he wanted to do. He used his free left hand to pull down her panties, revealing the soft globe of her ass. He hummed, "mmhm."

When she blushed and stammered, "please," his smirk grew wider.

"Please don't be like this," she begged.

When she felt him attempt to make her buck naked, she quickly pressed her petite hands on her most sacred part, over her dress.

He raised a brow at her as he looked up. She was blushing frantically and shaking her head, her eyes tearing up slightly even when she refused to look away from his face.

"I-I'm still a virgin-" What she really meant to say was 'please have pity on my untried, inexperienced body.' Surely he will be the charming lover he showed himself to be earlier.

His voice cut through the air as he made a ravishing smile, "that's even better."

She cried, "you're so selfish!"

He snorted, "I always was."

He held down both of her wrists in his right hand.

"No, don't-" she gasped when her dress slid down to her ankles and she was completely naked.

Her womanhood was covered with dark, slightly curly fur, and right away, an aroma of aroused desire wafted between them.

She writhed, "ah..."

Then she felt his warm digits prying into her pubic hair and searching for the hidden gem once again.

"No, don't touch-" she struggled but he spread out and pinned her legs wide. His face was so close to her womanhood.

Then she felt it— the hot tip of his tongue tentatively licking the weak, red, and deliciously curved flesh of her labia that was exposed to the cold ngiht air.

"Nooooo-" she cried but his tongue kept grazing against her trembling, erect clit.

She felt as if something that has been integral to her body has slipped between her legs.

"U...Uchiha sama-!" Hinata gasped, "no!" She fought against his tightened grip on her wrists.

Sasuke stopped. Her struggles, her screams—he really felt as if it was all real. Then he deeply breathed in the scent between her thighs. With a low rumbling voice, he uttered "Hyuuga..." as he buried himself between her legs again.

His tongue kept lapping against her clit and plump labia. She cried and fought, but his tongue was insistent and unrelenting.

When she felt his tongue lapping at her entrance, she begged, "please-please don't suck. Anything but sucking-"

She begged. She wanted to still feel that she still had her virginity.

But then she heard a sound of a long, drawn out suck.

She felt as if he was sucking out her very virginity.

As he sucked out her sweet essence, she writhed in torment. He was taking her.

"Nooo-!" She screamed. Her nails clawed on the mattress.

He spoke in a raspy voice as he continued to orally tease her,

"Your dear 'messenger sama,' 'Waker sama',"

he gritted his perfect teeth, his jaw clenched, "promising you friendship... promising you help with practice...only to strip you...bound you...dirty you with my hands..."

She whimpered, "Uchiha sama, why-"

Instead of answering, a groan escaped from his throat as he grabbed her thighs and pulled her closer towards his waiting mouth. By then, the girl was too exhausted to resist. She felt herself sliding over the bed as she felt his hands stroke her inner thighs and his eyes peer into her little flower.

Then she felt it- his hot, long, and thick tongue penetrating through her sensitive muscles.

She clammed her lips shut at first but his tongue that went through her barrier elicited a loud cry.

She started thrashing, "please!"

But his hands already cuffed her and his tongue was inside her.

He slowly pulled out her tongue. Then he sucked on her clit. She felt her eyes tearing up.

"I always wanted to do these things to you." He huffed. Even when he didn't tell her outloud, she knew he was speaking from deep within himself.

"Even at that time you were injured in the tournament."

Her eyes widened. That was when he helped her with her...monthly problem.

He made a rueful chuckle.

He knew he was a filthy dog and he hated himself when he realized what he wanted to do to the sweet Hyuuga. He tortured himself with thoughts that he was just like his past tormentors such as Orochimaru—wanting to use her body for his selfish, base desires. But night after night, thoughts of Hyuuga's smile and her blush, her innocent gestures would exacerbate his hunger. When he saw Uzumaki actively lust over her at one point, he wanted to just give up and show his lust too.

He wanted to claim her the way all men want to claim women. But he couldn't dare to see the shock in her light lavender eyes that always looked up to him with respect and affection. Or see her shrink away and fear him.

That damned respect she always held for him. It aggravated him to no end. He wanted her to see him the way the Haruno girl did, the other girls and women did. Lust, greed, anything would have worked, but no, all he got was her damnable affection.

But he wanted her. And he waited long enough.

That was when he pinned her with his deep, smoldering eyes.

"Uchiha sama, please-" she begged, "I love you-"

He forced her legs apart. Then he entered her slowly.

She felt as if her mind and body were about to burst. Her toes curled and her nails dug into her palms.

He was going so deep into her that she wondered how he could hit such a deep spot. But he was gentle too.

"You must," he huffed as he went in and out of her, "you must learn to bear it." As he deflowered her, he felt a rush of warmth and unbelievable satisfaction.

She was barely able to open her eyes and look up at him. She was pass 'learning to bear it.' Her light lavender eyes opened slightly, peering up to her lover's face in the midst of foggy ecstasy. And what she saw was breathtaking.

He was so full of passion as he slammed his body against hers, the wet sound of flesh, his balls slapping against her slick mound. The friction between their skins produced lewd sounds of slapping flesh.

Her cries and the way she writhed on the floor told him she was enjoying what he was doing to her.

That was when he pulled out something from the pocket of his boxers that he discarded carelessly on the mattress.

It was his mother's blue necklace, gleaming in the dark.

Her eyes widened as she searched his face, "Sasuke."

He whipped the necklace around his wrist and gently changed positions, his cock still buried balls deep in Hinata.

She yelped when he lifted her above him, and he was careful to not suddenly slam her on top of him.

She was new to all of this and he didn't need to rush. But knowing that he gets to have her forever wasn't enough. He wanted her for too long.

"You understand, don't you?" He rasped as he thrusted his pelvis upwards, "that you are mine and nobody else can have you?"

As Hinata whimpered, he pushed her dark hair behind her shoulders and locked the necklace around her throat.

When they exchanged their positions, with her on top, contrary to Hinata's expectation that Sasuke will be submissive, she found herself even more under her lover's dark power.

He grinned. Hinata, without any clothes or jewelry but the necklace passed down to Uchiha matriarchs, was hot. She looked like a freakin vision. The future Uchiha matriarch was sitting on him, his cock buried deep within.

Throwing away his ruse at gentleness, he began hitting all the spots she didn't even know that exist.

The blue necklace jumped and wobbled between the soft pale flesh of her breasts.

She was a beautiful prisoner, her slender neck tied up with the bejeweled leash—the Uchiha heirloom. Now she could never be set free. He will make sure of that. And soon he will create his hostage inside her womb.

"Hyuuga..." he murmured as he thrusted himself into her.

She cried out

"Wa-waker sama, please d-don't call me, 'Hyuuga!' I-it feels..."

It felt so wrong. The Waker Sasuke and she used to be separated by at least six or seven years. She teared up due to excitement and shame. She was just a child when she developed feelings for him.

But the child Hinata never in her wildest dreams thought that he would claim her this way.

He grabbed her arm tightly as she struggled to push herself away. He smirked.

"You could try to run. But it will only make it so much more satisfying when I find you and fuck you on the spot." He laughed maliciously, "I will bed you in the middle of a forest or desert if that is where I find you."

She couldn't form coherent words by the way he was moving her,

"Ah...ah!"

He looked up at her, his eyes drunken with lust.

Then he surprised her with his more serious statement, "Hinata...I want... to plant a seed."

She looked up to him confused.

He surprised her even more.

"I want children."

She looked down at him, speechless.

He eyed the Uchiha heirloom, the blue tassels of the necklace , showing off glints of light as the playfully jostle on Hinata's shuddering breasts.

He grabbed both of her arms and whispered seductively

"You're going to bear me sons..."

 _Just like Itachi and me_ he thought.

Hinata blushed and tried to twist her arm away from Sasuke's iron grasp.

He was enjoying the view from below and then abruptly stood up and rudely captured her right nipple in his mouth as his hand pressed the slender dip of her back.

Inside his mouth, her breast was massaged and played with. She looked down at him, blushing with apprehension, but didn't know what to do.

"Hyuuga...my beautiful..." he kept massaging her breast between his lips, his long dark hair tousled over his forehead and eyes "place of sun..."

"I love you, Hinata," he whispered as he trailed light butterfly kisses over her cheek and throat, "I love you. I love you."

"Uchiha...Sasuke..." Hinata blushed. She felt herself tearing up. A wave of emotions, stronger than words such as sentimentality, touched her heart. Has he finally learned how to become romantic?

Suddenly thoughts rushed to her and she felt her nose turn heated, red, and congested. Before she could stop herself, a tear formed at her left eye, glistening and threatening to fall.

That was when Sasuke stopped.

"Ice" he said and gently pulled himself out of her wet, slick body.

She curled into a ball by his side and he made room for her on the bed.

He turned to her as he held her tightly in his arms.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

When she couldn't answer, he went on

"Tell me."

"No, it isn't anything importa-"

He said it more firmly.

"Tell me."

After a pause, she finally said-

"I wanted to think...I wasn't a coward anymore. Or maybe I was still a coward. I left you. Thinking that it was for the best. Thinking that I..."

"Don't say anything," he held her naked body close to his chest, "Don't think anything."

That was when she knew. He was as overwhelmed and suffering as she was. The tightness of his hand that wrapped around her shoulder and his embrace told her.

Her lithe body lied across his long chest, waist, and legs as she propped her chin on her interlaced hands over his chest "Uchiha sama-"

He looked down at her, his eyebrows rising in question.

"You seem...very experienced." She shyly averted her eyes. She was sure he had a lot of lovers in his past. He was so skilled and gosh, his stamina was amazing.

He didn't say anything for a while. That was when he started to talk about his regretful past. "It was...disgusting affairs."

He reflected how he gave up everything, even his dignity, to steal information for power, to kill his brother, "In my past, I was a slab of meat, rubbing against another slab of meat."

He loathed how dirty he was. He imagined that his dirtiness caused him to obsess over Hinata when he was a Waker. He still obsessed over her during his reincarnation but he didn't dare to touch her in fear of ruining her.

But still he craved her. He fantasized about grabbing her. To see and hear her cry when he shows her what was always hiding behind his cold facade.

Hinata flinched at his words. Slab of meat. She realized what he meant. He briefly mentioned experiencing some sort of bodily trauma at the hands of a psychotic nin who used to be Kabuto's master. Everyone knew how the Avenger didn't spare anything to kill his own brother. Purity was always inferior to power.

Sasuke glanced at her and threw his arm around her and drew her closer. His pointed nose rubbed against her own nose, "But that is not how I feel with you." His tone was decisive.

Hinata didn't say anything for a while. When she kept silent, he looked at her with concern, "Hinata." His voice was serious.

"No…" her pale glossy eyes narrowed in pain, "I'm not sad because of that…"

Her fine, pale fingers reached towards Sasuke's hand, and their fingers spread against each other, the tips touching and spreading warmth.

"It's just pains me…to know how much it must have hurt…you were just a boy and-"

Tears trickled down her face.

"I was so excited by how…you were able to touch me and make me feel good, I didn't stop to think that it used to be at the cost of your own happiness."

He looked up at her quietly for a moment and suddenly grabbed her wrist and dragged her to his chest.

She fought to stay away, but he stubbornly locked her in his arms.

She fought, "No, please…I can't-we can't-"

But his toned arm immobilized her body, pressing her shoulders close to his chest.

He was quiet for a full minute.

Then he finally spoke

"That was…against my will. This is different."

He looked into her eyes, "we both know that deep inside we both want this."

She nodded hard.

His raspy voice and warm breath tickled her sensitive ear, "I've…never felt this way, Hinata."

As she felt her eyelids becoming heavier, she heard his words, like the final notes of a gentle lullaby.

"You...you make me very happy, so this time, I want to make you happy."

He then lifted himself up and dragged the girl across the bed, pulling her legs apart as he once again thrusted himself against her.


	33. Ch33

A/N: I increased last chapter's word count from 6k to 7,505! Check out the newly updated chapter 32 and don't forget to put a review!

I am planning to add parts where Hinata remembers her days as a Waker's Pearl candidate where Sasuke goes through a brief episode of amnesia and as Naruto's Waker's Pearl when she thought Sasuke hated her.

And of course scenes where they have kids hehe. Really excited.

* * *

It was still dark in the morning when Hinata opened her light colored eyes that fluttered rapidly.

She felt snug and warm under the blanket, and she felt her cheek pressed against his warm, pale chest. Her eyes shot wide open. All she could see was a firm, soft neck and a wide, smooth chest. She never knew she would find someone's chest so interesting and 'alluring.' Especially a man's chest. Pictures and sculptures of men's torsos always seemed flat and uninterested. She could feel his chest gently rising up and down as he breathed quietly in his sleep. Last night, she was amazed by how hairless he was. He was a full grown man but he didn't have a lot of armpit hair, not even chest hair, or...

She blushed. She glanced up at his handsome profile. He was sound asleep. His pale lips that were neither too full or thin were closed shut as his nose gently breathed out in comfortable slumber. As strange as it might sound, seeing Sasuke sleep felt like watching a newborn baby sleeping. She couldn't help but think how vulnerable and sweet he looked. It made her want to snuggle his face out.

Her hand stroked his rock hard shoulder and across the rippling muscle of his toned arm, until she felt...nothing.

A tear formed in her eye. Out of the warm, glowing comfort of finally being with him in both heart and body, she has forgotten that he had lost his left arm.

Thanks to Sasori's technical dexterity, he was able to get a mechanic arm that had a higher density than a diamond, lasts longer during his use of lightning Justus, and allows a smoother flow of chakra than his previous prosthetic arm.

The downside is that he has to remove his mechanic arm whenever he feels it strain his body. The mechanic arm was made of raw material that is alien to human flesh, so it would take time for his body to adjust to the new artificial addition.

She stroked the stump of his left arm that was wounded with a clean bandaid. As her hand's touch, his left shoulder jerked, but when she quickly removed her hand, she saw that he was still fast asleep.

Then she felt something heavy pressed against her bare back. And then the feeling of cold steel right by the side of her body.

Surprised, she tried to turn around, but she soon noticed that it was Sasuke's right arm that held her firmly in place, close to his chest. In his right hand was kusanagi, his sword that could channel pure lightning.

That was when she noticed. He didn't feel safe without sleeping with his sword. Even now, sleeping with her in his arms, he felt the need for his sword to be clutched in his only hand.

She felt her heart shuddering at the depth of his fear of losing her and desire to protect her.

She was busy glancing at the breadth of kusanagi pressed over her body that she didn't notice that he was awake until she turned her eyes back to his face.

He was breathtaking to look at. Her light lavender eyes blinked as they gazed into the pair of dark, slanted eyes that seemed emotionless. His left eye, of a dull lavender grey with rings, reflected her face.

They gazed at each other quietly, Then he lifted his right arm off from Hinata, who lifted herself slightly so he could stand up.

He lifted himself up with the sole help of his abdominal muscles and his intact right arm. Then he placed kusanagi by the bed post. Hinata still lied down, looking at his broad back, marked with various scars of different sizes. Some looked like narrow lightning shaped scratches. Some looked like big gashes, remnants of mortal wounds. His wide shoulders and back taped down to a narrow waist, trimmed of fat. She could see the curve of his spinal cord that dipped down to his toned hips. Her wandering eyes then drifted down and she blushed terribly. It's ridiculous how a man's butt could look so attractive. Her eyes quickly darted upward. It still felt improper and indecent for her to stare at his butt.

Meanwhile, he was staring at her. She didn't notice, because he still had his back turned to her.

When she raised her eyes, wondering what he could be thinking, she saw him stare.

Her heart could have literally leapt from her chest, "Sa-Sasu-" Suddenly, she felt overwhelmed by this tidal wave of embarrassment.

She flung her blanket over her face, "I-I did-didn't mean to-"

She felt like a peeping Tom. She just blatantly ogled her lover's butt. And she got caught.

Then suddenly she felt a strong grip on her blanket, and he flung it away from her body.

Hinata felt as if her face was on fire as she covered her breasts and mound.

He kept staring down at her. She trembled, "We...we're e-even n-now right?"

He hummed dryly, "hm." Neither an affirmative nor denial.

She changed the subject, "Di-did you sleep well?"

He nodded. He rested his right elbow on his knee as he continued looking down at her.

"I-I di-did too."

After some silence, she asked,

"Are you cold?"

"..." He shook his head. And kept his unnerving stare.

She wasn't so sure what he wanted from her.

She spoke softly, as if to a wild beast

"Are you hungry? Do you want food?"

She offered, "Y-you could sleep more if you want..."

She couldn't help but laugh, "Haha...a-are you the same person I met last night?" He looked so upright and stoic, unlike the passionate, uninhibited man she saw last night. The man who hoarsely whispered, I love you's, and stretched her limbs to hit her at the right angle. She remembered tearing up and clutching on the bed post to not get swept away by the raw tempest by the name of Sasuke Uchiha.

But now he was so different. Even his bed hair looked smooth and calm.

He murmured softly, "yes," and he slowly stumbled over to her, in a way that reminded Hinata of a sleepy zombie, and started grinding onto her.

"Ahh..." she moaned as she melted into his chest as she felt his hand gripping on the sheets as he balanced himself.

When she felt him move against her, his pelvic bone hitting against her inner thighs, she felt the same feeling she felt whenever she was outside, the soft wind with its strong whistle, blowing against her eyes and hair, making her feel free in an autumn afternoon. When she saw the aspen tree leaves flutter like dangling coins, she felt strong, healthy, and so sure of what she was doing. When she felt like a maple leaf spinning in the crystalline air.

Encouraged by her moans, he kept the persistent task of grinding against her, and he felt some alleviation of his morning wood. But not completely.

Embarrassed by how the sunlight illuminated their bodies, she tried to grab the blanket although he was shoving her up and down.

The blanket at first slipped away from her trembling fingers, but she managed to grab it and yank it over her chest.

He stopped his movements and looked down at her, "Hinata."

He frowned, confused, "why are you covering yourself?" He pointed to the fleece blanket that covered her peach-like breasts and soft stomach.

He looked as confused as a well trained pet hound that was about to take a gulp of chicken, but his master wrapped it around with aluminum foil.

It made absolutely no sense to him why his aroused, sweet partner would cover herself.

She shook her head stubbornly and buried her nose. Now it was her time to be quiet.

He was puzzled. But then a lightbulb clicked in his head.

He asked her with anticipation, "Is it because you're shy?"

She slowly nodded her head, her wary eyes staring into him.

He cracked into a knowing smile, "Ah..."

With a laugh, he yanked the blanket that she clutched close to her chest and tossed it on the ground.

She protested, "No-no-" but he grabbed both of her wrists with his right hand and pinned them down by the right side of her head.

She tried to struggle but he pressed her left arm against her mouth, muffling her screams.

Then he sniggered as he licked her full breasts, lapping on her nipples with his wide tongue. His mouth opened and latched on her breast, and she moaned and shook her head, "no, no!" But despite her struggles, her trying to lift her wrists off from the mattress, he refused to budge and he kept licking and sucking on her breasts until they were red and overstimulated.

She heard him chuckle for a second and he finally freed her breasts. Her body never had to bear the yoke of a man. She panted and tried to control her breathes. He encouraged her, "yes, Hyuuga, yes."

Then he fixed his cock inside her soft passage and started pumping inside her. She pursed her lips as she felt his thick length pushing into her once again and filling her. Pure pleasure swept through her, and spikes of pleasure rose in sharp, short intervals like the way moonlight hits undulating ripples of a lake. The sparks of pleasure were transient, and she felt a ripple of bliss break through her as she trembled pathetically.

Embarrassed by how she is unable to control herself, she covered her eyes with her left arm that he stretched across her face to keep her from fighting him.

He hissed in frustration and roughly pulled both of her wrists down, forcing her left arm away from her red face.

"Look at me!" he growled. And then he slammed his chest against her.

Startled by his loud voice, her eyes jerked wide open, and satisfied, he kept pumping in and out of her, maintaining eye contact.

"I'm the one touching you," he rasped "I'm the one taking you."

"Please," she played along, "please...I never knew a man." She had just lost her virginity to Sasuke last night, barely six hours ago. She wept, "so please."

A growl of approval ripped out of his throat, and he pumped into her harder, and she screamed.

He controlled his thrusts so that she would make a series of cries, "ah-ah-ah-ah!"

The vigorous pumps seem to be going on forever, and feeling his hot breath billowing against her throat, Hinata felt as if she was going to pass out second. Her hazy vision could see Sasuke's face that was staring at her intently as he bobbed up and down against her.

He huffed, as he kept ploughing through her soft, virginal body like a rampant beast in heat.

His long tongue came out and licked her pale, creamy neck in long strokes as he kept bobbing up and against her, his pelvic bone hitting her thighs and forcing them open, and his cock nailing himself into her until she felt hazy and disoriented.

She shook her head, appealing once again to him, "no, no, no—"

Saduke kept moving against her, saying "yes, Hinata. Yess..."

His cock luxuriated in the feel of her tight, wet pussy. It was greedily sucking him.

Her screams turned into whines, and her plaintive, sad whines reminded Sasuke of a fawn's call for help in the wild forest when a wolf sinks its teeth into its tender throat.

When he finally allowed the blinding bliss of the climax to come, her whines started getting quieter and quieter. He shuddered, feeling his legs and his shoulders tremble, and then pumped himself in her for a minute or two before withdrawing himself.

She felt a squirt of warm, white foam on her inner thighs, and his hot, now flaccid member grazing her leg, and then he collapsed on top of her.

He smiled. He won.

He nuzzled his sharp tipped nose against her armpit and breathed in and out as he came down from his high. He liked resting the side of his face on her soft breasts. She liked the comforting heaviness of his weight, even though she outwardly complained that he was too heavy.

He glanced at her with mischievous dark eyes, "It's nice to know you're the same person from last night."

Her cheeks turned tomato red. He then groaned in defeat, "but you're really bad at keeping your voice down."

She blushed. She was sure the entire forest must have heard her screams of pleasure.

He eyed the blue necklace that was hung around her neck. Making a meaningful smile, he lifted himself slightly and started resting his pelvic bones that jutted against her inner thighs. "But I think...it makes me even more excited."

Then he started rubbing his member against her wet, slick entrance, smearing himself with her sticky essence that mixed with his.

Hinata felt her eyelids getting heavy, as she felt Sasuke starting to crank up the speed where he was pumping her up and down on the bed.

The mattress creaked in protest to the rough treatment, as Sasuke's thick thighs started slapping against her butt and legs.

She continued her protests, "Sa-Sasu-"

The wet sounds of slapping flesh that rang in the air interrupted her speech.

"We-we don't have to," she panted "do this." Like animals, she thought. She kept panting, "please—ahh!"

As he continued his savage thrusts, he licked his lips. When he finally drew out, his cock springing out afterwards, Hinata sighed in relief. Then she saw him nose diving into between her thighs. His right hand was grabbing her wrists together, immobilizing her poor attempt to struggle.

While he was sucking on her juice, he made eye contact with her.

Her light lavender eyes were wide at first, then she whimpered.

"No, no..."

His dark eyes that used to always harden into a perpetual scowl looked drugged and intoxicated as he kept sucking onto her pink slit.

When she shook her head and fussed, he maintained his stony eye contact with her and nodded. The way he slowly nodded made his sharp nose rub against her oversensitized clit, making her scream, and smeared her juices across his stubble less chin.

When her feet pressed on the mattress and she lifted her hips, she could feel Sasuke's hungry mouth panting for more as it followed her pink pussy.

He made a mental note to use a soft and sturdy rope next time. So he could grab a hold of her thigh and properly eat her out.

Soon, Hinata has forgotten all her reservations and her penchant for role play that she writhed in pleasure at Sasuke's oral ministrations.

That was when, to Hinata's pure horror, she squirted.

Her liquid juice sprayed over his mouth.

At first he was stunned. Then his long tongue kept out and stroked her pink slit and clit with its sensitive end.

Tears of humiliation streamed from her beautiful eyes.

In the midst of his dazed concentration on her aromatic pussy, he looked up and saw Hinata shedding tears of defeat.

He lifted himself up and came closer.

He grabbed her chin and forced her to look at him.

He said, "it feels like you're finally mine."

Her eyes widened. His eye catching, pale lips twisted into a smirk. Then he crushed his lips onto hers.

She protested loudly, "umm-umm-umm!"

To which he responded with huffs and affirming moans.

She felt his tongue out for a prowl in her own mouth. The minute his tongue felt hers, it seized it and entangled itself together, refusing to let go.

When he finally did, her lips were red, swollen, and lightly bruised by his kisses. There were petal like kiss marks and hickeys across her neck, breasts, and even her thighs.

Hinata couldn't help but wonder, 'how could such an amazing connection exist?'

As she rolled to her side, Sasuke collapsed on the mattress. She pressed her cheek onto his chest, and he wrapped his arm around her protectively.

She said, "Sasuke, I love you."

She looked up to him, waiting for some response.

He just kept his eyes forward and didn't say anything.

Then she giggled, "but you love me more."

Then finally he nodded. They were wrapped in each other's embrace, and they slept through the morning.

* * *

 _4 years later, in the Land of Waterfall-Taki_

In a remote mountain village, there was a tailor with exquisite needle point skills. His business was new, but his talent was renown throughout the region and even across borders.

He was notoriously elusive. It was a mystery to even the townsfolk how the tailor got such top of the crop, elite clientele despite his shyness.

Once, the most important ninja of the neighboring country, Land of Fire, the hokage even arrived at the mountain village and asked for the whereabouts of the tailor, but was mystified by how unreachable and close to legend the tailor was.

The townsfolk seemed to clam their mouths shut when asked for the tailor, and their claims about the directions to his house all varied.

Matter of fact, even if a regular client tries to reach the tailor's workshop hidden in the trees again, he could never reach it even if he scrounged through the same route all day.

It was known that the tailor could be reached or made appointments with, through hawks. Prospective clients would tie a red thread with a letter around a hawk's leg, and fly it across the Land of Waterfall.

Within two days, the hawk would come back to the owner. If the hawk brings back a wooden symbol of a split fan that has the written date of appointment, the date is affirmed. If the hawk comes with the red thread, it was a refusal.

It was a mystery to the townsfolk how the tailor could make a living, despite making it so difficult to book appointments. But somehow it must have worked because they could see big birds flying across the sky, carrying a wrapped box of the finished garments in their beaks.

The tailor got to live a life of fond privacy, but that all had to change.

Because his infant son Fugaku had to go to a nursery while his mama worked.

* * *

A young teacher, who teaches gardening and art to young children and the elderly, hurried to the nursery where she left her two and a half month old son, Fugaku.

Her long indigo hair swayed across her back as she hurried to fetch her son. Even at work, she missed him.

When she entered the nursery, she took a peek into the infants' room. She smiled at the sight. There was her baby son, his plump arm wrapped around the caregiver's arm, as the caregiver holds him and cleans up the toys.

She called out, "Fugaku~"

The caregiver turned and exclaimed, "Mrs. Uchiha!" In her arm was a little baby who just learned how to hold his own neck without the help of an adult's hand.

But he was too young to crawl. He can't even turn around on his belly when he lies down yet. But Hinata was sure he will learn in time.

What filled her heart with happiness was the caregiver's constant compliments, "Fugaku is so easy to take care of~ He never cries and is always content on his own! Plus, he's so cuddly."

Fugaku's clear eyes stared at his mother who stretched her arms out to him. He was sucking on his rubbery, blue pacifier. The pacifier looked so big compared to his tiny face. What was cute was that when he has his paci on, nobody could see his lips. His round, soft, pale cheeks went up and down, as his tiny mouth busily sucked on his paci. His eyes that liked to watch others play or talk had the clear color of grey.

Her husband told her that his father had grey colored eyes.

Like his father who was stoic and calm, Fugaku doesn't have a variety of facial expressions. Even when other babies start smiling and reach out their arms to their mothers, Fugaku was always calm, waiting for his mama to hold him. But he didn't have a cold expression like his father. Thanks to his age, tininess, and his ongoing love affair with his pacifier, he had a sweet, calm, and pure demeanor.

When the caregiver passed Fugaku to his mother, Hinata always thanked her and asked her if Fugaku gave her any hard time.

They would chat a little, share a little village gossip, and Hinata would take Fugaku in her arms and start going home.

On her way home, she stopped by the local grocery market. Fugaku had his left arm wrapped around his mother's arm and his tiny right hand grabbing the neckline of her blouse and feeling the warmth of her breasts. He looked around the vegetable aisles as his mouth sucked on his paci.

He started reaching out his tiny hand toward a pile of red, shiny tomatoes that were on sale. He almost tumbled down the tower of tomatoes, but thankfully, Hinata was able to act quick.

When Hinata finished her daily grocery shopping, she continued holding Fugaku in her arms and happily started heading home.

She nuzzled her nose against her baby's soft, round head, covered with a tuft of fuzzy, dark hair. She gave his head a little kiss, while Fugaku kept staring at the people passing by, sucking on his paci.

She saw the long, curled lashes of her son flutter as he focused on the children playing a game in the streets.

She started talking to her son, "Fugaku, in a matter of time, you get to run around and play too~"

Fugaku looked up to his angelic mother and stared. Then he turned his attention this time to a couple of birds flying across the sky.

She giggled and kissed his plump cheek, the size of a little plum. He smelt of candies and fresh baked bread, typical baby smell.

But that was when she heard a low voice of man, "Um, excuse me."

When she turned, her eyes widened and she looked up.

It was a young man on a white horse. Thanks to her husband's vocation, she was able to tell from his clothes, that he was a wealthy, important person.

She also saw the emblem of the Cloud village on his headband.

She thought that he was upset that she was on his way, so she graciously moved to the side of the road, giving him space.

But the man followed her. She frowned. She didn't like how this was going. It happened sometimes that self-important nobles would stop her and demand her to be of 'service' to them, but this time, for the love of everything motherly, she had a baby in her arms!

She was sure that it wasn't 'that' kind of approach. No man with a brain in his head would willingly stop a woman, while it was abundantly clear that she was a mother to a child.

'Does this have to do with Fugaku's father?' Concern clouded her usually bright features, and she stood, frozen, her arms wrapped around Fugaku who stared up at the man on the white horse in placid wonder.

Her husband is known to not bow to authority. He wasn't rude, but he didn't grovel either. It wouldn't surprise her if this noble was trying to exact revenge or give a warning for his 'impudence.'

So, she decided to listen to know what was going on.

The man introduced himself as "Hudo of Kumokagure" He was a top shinobi known for his fast horse in the Land of Clouds and was the heir to the position-Kumokage.

Land of Clouds was a significantly bigger than the Land of Waterfall. Just by stating that he is from the Land of Clouds attracts fear from men and attention from many young women in the Land of Waterfall.

The man, Hudo was sure that in a minute, the young woman would blush and start showering him with flirtatious eye batting, but the pearl eyed beauty merely stared up to him, waiting for him to get to his point.

Meanwhile, Hinata was zoning out most of Hudo's grandiose speech. She was calculating in her head, the time left before breastfeeding Fugaku and whether she should make rice balls or tomato omelettes for dinner.

She blushed, as she thought of her husband's face. He has gone on a business trip for a week, and she dearly missed him. Whenever he comes back from his business trip, he would make up for his absence with very generous love making. Even now, thinking of him keeps her blushing.

She looked down at Fugaku who kept his clear grey eyes on Hudo as he sucked on his paci. She was sure their son must miss his papa too.

Mistaking Hinata's blush as his effect, the Cloud nin made an inner fist pump of triumph. Then finally, Hudo came to his point.

"I didn't know that such a common run down town could have such a beauty," he eyed her cleavage that showed slightly above her neckline that the baby had his tiny fingers on, "I want you to join my line of consorts. You'll know no lacking, and you definitely deserve more than a homely life as a village wife."

His words snapped her back to her senses. Her delicate brows knitted together as she spoke carefully and clearly, so that the man won't miss a single word.

"I'm confused, sir. Can't you see that I am clearly a mother to this child?"

"It might ruin my reputation to have a mountain commoner as a companion, but...what?"

He looked down at her in disbelief. Now, Hinata felt angry. She felt as if she was talking to a brick wall. "I'm a mother, and I have a husband. I have no intention to follow you."

She could almost snort at the man's cluelessness. Though now a mere tailor, her husband subjugated empires and is the only man to have won the acknowledgment and fear of dragons, demons, and sages. When he reincarnated, he battled against an entity, to which a thousand years was a mere second. She is his lover, and she even has his child who had his arms innocently wrapped around her.

Hudo's face darkened. There was something this mere mountain commoner didn't know, and if a noble asked her for her 'service,' it was not a request. It was an order.

Wife or not, a common woman shouldn't dare to reject a noble's advances. For girls who dared to disobey, it became a notorious sport for corrupt ninjas and upperclassmen to shame them in the streets. When she turned, adjusting her hold on her baby so he could rest his face on her shoulder, Hudo reached out his hand to seize her by her long, silky hair. It seemed that he was going to teach this arrogant village beauty a lesson in front of the villagers and take her by force, leaving the baby in the streets.

But then the baby who had been staring at him with placid, curious eyes suddenly pinned him with a calm, pure stare. Suddenly, as he saw the obnoxious man reach his hand toward his mama, Fugaku's dark pupils turned into orbs of red.

Hinata felt a dark energy behind her, and she was about to take on the Cloud shinobi, but she was surprised to see him get off his horse, turn around, and start walking away. The horse whinnyed and galloped off and the man seemed dazed as he kept walking away.

She looked down at her son who kept sucking on his paci. She comforted her poor boy who must be really hungry for milk, and started walking home.

She hiked up the mountain and arrived home, their tiny two story house. After nursing her hungry baby, Hinata placed him in his bouncy chair that is hung by the kitchen door and worked on dinner.

Fugaku was content, swinging on his bouncy chair, as he sucked on his paci and stared at his mama.

Hinata had just closed the lid over her pot when she heard the entrance door open.

When she turned, she saw a tall, dark haired man standing by the kitchen entrance.

She made a wide smile, " _anata-"_

Her husband side stepped his son's bouncy chair and removed his dark cloak, revealing a form fitting suit with a lavender grey vest. His dark right eye that was unconcealed by his bang looked down at his little wife who took time, studying his features. She took care to see if he was hurt anywhere or exhausted. Aside from the subtle, barely noticeable line beneath his eyes, he looked the same as years ago. But his expression was softer, milder, and less sardonic than when he was younger.

Fugaku kept sucking on his paci and looked at his father who seemed as tall and big as a mountain.

Whenever he came from his trip, Sasuke asked her, "How were you?"

She would smile, "good! Fugaku is doing well, as always."

Fugaku sensed that he was now the topic of interest and kept sucking on his paci and looking at his parents. That was his way to show that he was pleased.

When he looked at his son's face, Sasuke started to frown.

Hinata was setting up the table and she noticed the look on his face. "Sasuke? What's wrong?"

Sasuke paused for a second. Then he asked, "Did anything happen while I was gone?"

She blinked. Nothing was really out of the ordinary. Then she remembered. Out of her happiness at her husband's return, she forgot about the rude Cloud ninja who accosted her in the streets.

"A foreigner gave me a slight hard time today, but he left me alone."

Sasuke's brow ticked as he heard his wife refer to the foreigner as a 'he.' He was sure his wife was with Fugaku too. What was it with men who keep bothering his wife even though it was clear that she was off limits?

He looked at his son with a piercing gaze, and he slowly activated his right eye's rinnegan. At the rosy glow, Fugaku gazed, mesmerized, and answered back with his own rinnegan.

While suckling on his rubbery paci.

Sasuke quickly cut off his rinnegan, and he lifted his son up from the bouncy chair. He carried him in his arms.

They had a quiet dinner.

Fugaku kept staring at his papa's hand that held a spoon. When Sasuke would lift the spoon to his mouth, Fugaku would stare at his pa, his eyes following the spoon up and down.

When Sasuke saw his son's interest in his food, he asked his wife, "could he eat solids?"

Hinata shook her head, "no, but he sure looks ready."

Fugaku started to fuss a little, and it was always Hinata's job to put him to sleep. Sasuke tried several times, but it seemed Fukagu was way more interested in playing with his soft, shoulder length, layered coal black hair.

When Fugaku finally fell into deep sleep in his own room, that was when Hinata was cornered by her husband who for some reason looked angry.

"Sa-Sasuke?" Hinata stammered as she saw his handsome face darken into a scowl as he pushed her to their bedroom wall.

Hinata looked up at him, a blush coloring her cheeks. He had his mechanic left hand pressed on the wall, above his head, as he stared down at her. Locking her.

He murmured her name and grabbed her throat gently, the flesh between his long thumb and index guiding her lips to his. He rubbed his sculpted lips across her lips and then lowered in a harsh, punishing kiss.

His little wife squirmed as he continued his kisses, and even though he knew that it was not his wife's fault, he felt angered by her decision to keep her cloud nin's interaction from him. Only to have his infant son inform him in a vivid genjutsu from the child's point of view. The disgusting look of lust on his face when she turned away from him and the way his hand stretched out to grab her.

He grabbed both of her wrists and pinned her on their bed. He could smell the fresh scent of sunlight on the linen covers, as Hinata would change the bed whenever he comes back home.

He was amazed by his son's early ability to cast a genjutsu on the cloud nin, but he was sexually frustrated with his wife who kept asking him what was wrong.

He lifted up her long skirt and grabbed her panties and tore them off.

She covered her own mouth in shock and cried, "a- _anata_!"

He kept his wolfish eyes pinned on her red face and then ducked underneath her skirt.

Then Hinata felt an electric jolt of pleasure and gasped. As she felt him lap on her wet slit, she grabbed his head underneath her skirt and begged. "Hu-husband, please!"

But she had to bite her lower lip and tremble when he sank his teeth on her precious pearl, and her slit secreted oozing honey. But he kept licking and sucking as if dying of thirst.

Hinata was in ecstasy but she also sensed a strong desperation and anger in her husband's love making. She had this intuition that he might have found out about the cloud nin. She couldn't point her finger on it but she could feel it.

When he was ready for the next, he huffed and started unbuckling his belt and pulled down his fly.

He then filled her, and Hinata muffled her own cries, afraid to wake up the baby.

He started grunting as he moved back and forth, and his wife stroked his face and tried to bring sense into him, "please, Sasuke. Please lower your voice." As his grunts got louder, she begged, "Fugaku is asleep, please..."

She was worried for her baby. Meanwhile, Sasuke was more absorbed by the task of fucking his wife senseless.

So his response was to plunge deeper and hit her in her deepest spot. Her lips clamped shut and she writhed in desperation, "ah!"

As he pummeled into her, he gritted his teeth, "you should've told me."

Her pale lavender eyes widened, "h-how-"

But she didn't get to finish her words as he grabbed her wrists and pulled her closer as he thrusted his pelvis towards her mound.

He released one of her wrists and muffled her screams as he poured his seed into her womb and shuddered.

When he pulled himself out of her, he landed on his back on the mattress.

He looked at her. Her long dark hair was splayed all over the linen, and her seemingly endless depths of eyes were dazed and exhausted. Her body turned pink as if she stepped off from a scalding shower. Some of his oozy discharge slipped onto her legs.

He smirked. Nobody, in any country or world, gets to see Hinata like this. Only him.

She was the one to break the silence filled with hot breathes, "Sa-Sasu..."

He kept his eyes locked on hers, "hm."

"Ho-how did you know?"

He was quiet for a second. Then he finally confessed, "Fugaku has the rinnegan."

Hinata's eyes widened. Fear shifted through her eyes.

"But...he's so young!"

She was afraid. Could her sweet boy who shuns stuffed animals and only loves his paci turn into a feared killing machine? He was too young and innocent to understand the horror of his powers.

Understanding her fear, Sasuke explained, "he can't do complex things like creating illusions, but if he wants someone to go, he could make them go away."

At his words, she visibly relaxed, "thank goodness...but it's still so early."

Suddenly, Sasuke flipped her over so she lies on her stomach. Then he crouched over her. When she rose on all fours, she felt his hand grab her waist and stick her buttocks close to his crotch.

Then he started filling her from behind and they started moving again in sync.

Hinata moaned and tried desperately to keep the noises down. It didn't help that the bed was making obscene noises of squeaking and her husband was panting in her ears.

He murmured into her reddened ear, "stop worrying."

He kept pumping into her and when she tried to move farther from his hard thrusts, he grabbed her waists and pulled her back in place.

He huffed, "that's why he has us..."


End file.
